rule by emergency is not the solution, it's the problem

malign creativity meets malign policy

longtime gatopal™ and rational ground ground-wire justin hart recently noticed that the CDC is finally reporting county level covid data by “mandatory stay at home order” status.

he was kind enough to split the chart for me and did therefore knowingly commit “accessory to meme” because, well, somebody had to do this.

the results certainly warrant it.

and who doesn’t like a little fun?

this policy did absolutely nothing.

all the damage, disruption, and harms to lives, livelihoods, sanctity, and sanity accomplished nothing.

the overlay makes this obvious.

there is just zero signal here.

it does not get more clear than this.

the people who did this are neither authorities nor experts. none of their plans worked. not lockdowns, masks, school closures, or travel bans. it was not “warp speed” it was “warped science.”

this will not stop them from trying this again.

you can see them warming up.

they will once more seek to threaten you and tell you that you must go along to get along, that you must comply.

but here’s the truth:

these mitigations are a sham, but these encroachments into your basic human liberty and agency are very real.

you get to keep the rights you’ll fight for.

they blew a fast one by us last time because we were not organized and the middle did not believe that anyone would do anything so crazy.

they wanted to trust, keep their heads down, and wait for this to blow over.

they sought to appease the aggressor.

and it does not stop here.

have you not noticed all the “new emergencies”?

they have been auditioning everything from race conflict to monkeypox looking for the next reason to grab unaccountable powers.

we have not even ended the “covid emergency” yet and are already plotting new ones as the full blown climate pivot comes to light.

it’s just another usurpation of liberty to shower pointless mitigations that accomplish nothing with cash. it’s crony corporatism and authoritarian statism joyriding we the people’s car and doing donuts on our lawn.

and if you think the last one was nasty, wait until you see where this one goes…

certain internet felines have been oft heard to opine that if you grant politicians vast and unchecked emergency powers, they will respond by conjuring an endless series of hobgoblins such that these states of emergency shall always pertain.

the fact that it’s the same tired tropes as the last 70 years that have been used to predict 127 of the last 0 ends of the world is irrelevant.

it’s the power they want, not solutions (and imaginary threats work best because you can then claim that whatever was done saved the day.)

government by emergency is not government.

it’s an emergency in and of itself.

the crisis lies not in pandemic or in noticing that sometimes it gets hot in the summertime but in failing to realize that this is a railroading of fundamental human freedoms by a gang of coercive grifters selling faux solutions for your real sovereignty.

this is not how societies thrive.

it’s how they die.

everything becomes a “special case” and a “dire exigency.”

rights become privileges.

and the privileged keep theirs.

but you will not.

not any more.

never again.

there is no need for this and no right to do it even if there were.

and much of the real debate here on technocratic issues and data claims is simply used as a form of presumed close to sidestep the issue of “but what gives you the right to coerce me?” because the answer is “nothing.”

“does this work if i force it on you?” is not a relevant question if i have no right to force you in the first place.

and that is the fact we must remember.

their “authority” is not intrinsic. it comes from us.

and we need not grant it.

these are the bridges too far that set us on the road to ruin and all over the world, from dutch farmers to american PTA’s, people are starting to rise and to take back that which is theirs from the technocratic tyrants.

embrace ungovernability or get used to being ruled.

choose well.

and when you need more malign creativity, you know where to find me…