The freedom of business owners to operate their businesses and of employees to continue working at their jobs is under attack in America in the name of fighting coronavirus. Run afoul of the many restrictions on businesses found in the proliferating crackdowns on commerce justified to counter coronavirus and you can find yourself and your business facing extreme consequences.
For example, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced in his Tuesday daily coronavirus presentation that businesses that are “nonessential” — a categorization placed on businesses by government edict — will be subjected to misdemeanor charges as well at the shutting off of their water and power if they continue to operate in contravention of the city government’s declaration that they must close. Saying he was speaking to “nonessential” businesses bucking the prohibition on continuing operations, Garcetti stated:
You know who you are. You need to stop it. This is your chance to step up and to shut it down, because, if you don’t, we will shut you down.
The voice of a tyrant.
Such actions trampling on the ability of people to exercise the basic and fundamental freedom to engage in commerce are tyrannical. So also are the broad prohibitions local and state governments have imposed on people’s ability to travel freely and come together in groups to socialize, worship, whatever.
Garcetti and other government officials across America are ramping up the threats against people who are attempting to do no more than proceed with living their lives. In the short term, the harsh tactics the government officials pursue may rather easily yield success for their goals of massively suppressing the expression of human freedom. But, with time, the resistance to the oppressive restraints will grow. Many people will not take well to being caged for a long time. Governments will need to exercise greater and greater force to try to keep the people down. There will be blood in the streets and blood in the businesses.
Much of that blood will be of the people who couldn’t take it anymore and had to go out and make a buck or have a prohibited social interaction. Some of that blood will be of the government agents charged with enforcing the draconian decrees.
Governments can stop the bloodshed now by deescalating. Some state and local governments will hopefully do so soon. Others may wait too long and bring a new disaster to their communities.
