I’m no medical scientist. I’m a political scientist, which doesn’t qualify me to know anything about the science of medicine or the human body, but does qualify me to know things about the science of politics and political behavior, both in the mass populace and in the government itself.
So, during my commentary on masks I’m not going to try to be medically scientific, but I’ll be politically scientific—and both are important.
I’m talking about a simple object that has somehow turned into a political symbol and a point of controversy.
You all know it. We all know it.
Masks.
The Issue With Masks-Politically
How did such a simple little thing like a face mask become such a topic of controversy and political imagery? If you sit back and analyze it, it’s quite comedic to watch how the elites and the media are able to take and politicize everything—-and Americans go right with it.
Here’s the thing about face masks. There’s nothing inherently good or bad about them. Like all inanimate objects, they have been used for good (e.g. in the hospital setting) and for bad (e.g. robbing a bank). So, the issue I’m referring to has nothing to do with the inherent virtue, or lack thereof, of an inanimate object; rather, it has to do with the inherent virtue or lack thereof of government mandating that individuals wear this inanimate object.
So, let’s just remove ourselves from the current context of the whole “coronavirus” thing (which btw, I grow more and more skeptical about the whole virus issue by the day, as I see Gay Pride marches and constant BLM protests).
Without the pandemic context, how would we feel about governments requiring individuals to wear a face mask?
Not so good.
Think of it this way. Government is requiring, by law, that individuals wear something. That’s it.
So, what if government told us all that we were required, by law, to only wear sandals? Or shorts? Or that we all must have long hair, or short hair?
Mandating face masks is the same thing. As much as many may want to argue that the government requiring us to wear masks is unique from the government requiring us to wear a certain shirt or shoe, there really is no difference. If the government can require you to wear one thing, it can require you to wear or do whatever it wants to require you to wear or do.
Get that?
And no matter if there is a pandemic or riots or a zombie apocolypse, nowhere in the state or federal constitutions of the US does the government have the power to tell individuals what or what not to wear.
It’s as simple as that.
What frustrates me more than anything about this bloated government power, is that it’s not even the state legislatures that are mandating mask wearing. If any part of government were to have the power to mandate mask wearing (which they don’t), it would be the legislature, not the executive, that would have to write a law to do so. It’s only the executive’s job to execute the laws the legislature writes.
So, as in my state, when the governor writes an executive order (a dictatorial law) that all people must wear masks, he is already acting unconstitutionally because he does not even have the power to make law in the first place.
He’s acting doubly unconstitutionally. In other words, he’s constitutionally allowed to make a law mandating mask wearing but even if he was constitutionally allowed to make a law, the law itself not constitutional. Make sense?
The Issue With Masks Socially
I want to add a quick note about the social aspect of mask wearing. If government was not mandating masks, I have a feeling that many people, of their own volition and accord, would wear them anyway.
And that is fine. That is their prerogative.
We don’t need government dictating our every move. We’re smart enough to adjust our actions accordingly to a spike in viruses—or a zombie apocolypse. In fact, the government overstepping their power as they are is likely prolonging any issues with COVID-19 the U.S. might be experiencing and would likely exacerbate a zombie apocolypse ;).
So, while there is much science that speaks to the dangers of masks and science that questions whether masks actually do anything to protect from the spread of disease or viruses, it is still within people’s rights to choose to wear them or not. They can do their own research and decide.
It becomes a problem when people with masks begin directing or telling people without masks what to do. It’s as if, suddenly, mask wearers have a right to dictate to other individuals what they should or should not wear.
Conclusion
It’s all a power game. The government is exerting its power over us and most of us are complying because, honestly, wearing a mask is just not worth making a stand over. We can suck it up and put on a mask if we have to—(Go for it if you want to. There’s a key difference between choosing of your own volition to wear one and being forced by government to wear one). And it’s a power play for those wearing masks. Suddenly, they have the moral high ground and right to subjugate other free American citizens under their power—simply because those American citizens don’t have a mask on.
That type of social subjugation is not America. Forcefully being required by government to wear something is not America.
I don’t care what the newest catastrophe and justification for government overreach is… it’s still government overreach.
The Liberty Belle