Quote:
Originally Posted by maytag
Have you READ the constitution of the United States? If you had, then you would understand that the document enumerates those specific areas where government CAN restrict freedoms. So, the fact that facemasks are not mentioned in the constitution actually feeds the argument against the gov't being allowed to mandate them. (So I'd probably quit bringing that point up, if I wanted to encourage the naysayers to wear facemasks)
I think Starter made an important point when he said he'd like to be asked, not required (I'm paraphrasing). I think this is a common theme amongst conservatives regarding many, many issues: You (the gov't) don't have the right to compel me, so just ask us nicely. This is, for instance, how I feel about taxation for social programs, and many other governmental "programs" which may have best-interests at heart, but seek to compel where there is no precedent or constitutional basis for that power being given to gov't.
Having said that, While I bristle at the unconstitutionality of all that's being foisted upon us right now, I try not to let the leaves block the view of the forest. I still give to charity, and I still wear a facemask when and where I'm asked to do so.
I have a BIGGER problem with the seeming-incongruity behind supporting Protests and protesters (even though they are rarely masked and are NEVER social-distancing) while simultaneously shutting-down religious gatherings, schools, in-person voting and an entire host of other activities which could certainly be done with a modicum of safety that far exceeds what is being exercised during a protest / statue vandalizing session.
I don't make decisions based on the "slippery-slope" idea, but you must admit that there is merit to it. You see, while Covid is certainly real and scary, it HAS most-certainly been politicized, and is being used to influence behavior. To what end? Well, I have my own opinions about that; What are YOURS?
|
I don’t really want to go too deeply into the whole Constitution thing, other than to say it basically just sets up how the federal government is organized, and the responsibilities and authority of each branch of that government, as well as setting forth how that government, the feds, work in relation to the governments of the various individual states. The 10th Amendment goes on to declare that those powers that aren’t reserved by the Constitution to the federal government are by default powers that fall to the states to control. So, at least to this point in time, it’s been the states (not the feds) who have come up with the ‘mask mandates’ in their various forms. Could the feds do it on their own, for the nation as a whole? Who knows? I, for one, am not enough of a Constitutional scholar to even venture a guess.
But anyway, I think the courts have been pretty consistent that you have the rights enumerated in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, but that those rights can have reasonable limits. (The most consistently quoted: One cannot, based on the 1st Amendment right to free speech, shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater…not that those exist anymore
).
And I think the courts have, by and large, allowed states to be guilty of mild infringement on the individual’s rights under the Constitution where there is a clear and rational basis for such infringement (eg, in this case, the protection of public health) AND where that ‘infringement’ is narrowly drawn so as to minimize, as far as possible, the effect on one’s liberties. Probably requiring masks to be worn in public in the midst of a worldwide pandemic would fall into that category.
As far as your preference that we be “asked” to wear masks, as opposed to it being mandated, I understand the sentiment. I do. However to that I feel the need to add this: For months, Gov DeWine has been recommending folks maintain social distancing and wear masks when indoors, or outdoors where social distancing cannot be achieved. He’s done it til he was blue in the face. It was not until the bad numbers started going back up in Ohio that he finally said (paraphrasing…Gov Mike was much more diplomatic), “Enough! Now it’s mandated!” I don’t have any statistics at my fingertips, but I will offer this admittedly unscientific (though somewhat telling, in my book) observation: A few weeks ago, pre-mandate, I was in Home Depot one afternoon at a time when it was pretty darned crowded. In spite of the Gov’s gentle coaxing, week after week, that people should please wear masks indoors when in public, fully HALF of the people there were without masks. I was back in the same HD this afternoon with, by rough estimate, about the same number of folks in the aisles. Out of curiosity I decided to take note: Out of many dozens of people that I saw, there was this many without a mask on: One. Sometimes “Please” just doesn’t cut it..