Wanker Alert: Rights can be suspended in desperate times

As a staunch libertarian, no one fears and detests governmental overreach and totalitarianism more than I.

But I must take issue with Joshua Tapp’s letter in Monday’s U-B. The greatest gift our founders and farmers gave us is our Constitution and our Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments of which guaranty such rights as the freedoms of speech, assembly and worship, and most importantly, the right to keep and bear arms.

But to claim that these rights are inviolable in all circumstances is surely not what the framers intended.

Desperate times require desperate measures, and to prevent the spread of COVID-19, sensible governmental action to that end does quite arguably require the temporary suspension of the right of assembly, whether for religious purposes or otherwise.

However, care must be taken that any such measures are temporary and only for reasons of public health and not some insidious political purpose.

That is, while certain “social distancing” measures are appropriate, care must be taken that they do not impermissibly restrict the freedom of assembly. An example is the court decision to impose a four-month ban on assemblies in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The court issued its decision days after a protest by the political opposition and days before women, including members of the LGBTQ community, were planning a march on International Women’s Day. The court cited coronavirus as a justification for the ban, even though there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country.

This is just one example of how governmental power can be abused for nefarious purposes. I completely agree with Mr. Tapp that the people must decide what mitigated risks should be taken, but how else are they to do so other than through their duly elected representatives?

If their duly elected representatives fail to honor and respect the wishes of the people they, the electorate, always have (at least for now) the 2nd Amendment to fall back on to rectify matters, just as or forefathers did when they threw off the oppressive British Crown.

Charles Phillips

Walla Walla

https://www.union-bulletin.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/rights-can-be-suspended-in-desperate-times/article_a3fc8096-632a-5b77-9bf4-5910f807e6f4.html

Wanker Alert: Rights can be suspended in desperate times

Wanker Alert: Rights can be suspended in desperate times

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