Denver, CO – The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not represent endorsements or the views of ColoradoCitizenPress.com. We believe the role of government in times of crisis is solely to maintain peace and allow for opportunities where people can succeed. Any extra control exercised over citizens or private businesses is an encroachment of personal liberties, including the closure of businesses and restrictions on people’s right to assemble.
By: Andrew Server, Contributor
Within its ideal scope of power, the government should and does have roles to fulfill in its governance of the country. One such role is protectorate of the people in times of crises such as war, and like the crisis we are seeing in the unprecedented spread of the novel COVID virus. In instances like these, it is pragmatic that the government reasonably and temporarily expand what is intended to be a limited amount of power. That being said, we, especially Millennials such as myself who have not yet witnessed flagrant growth of the state like the New Deal or Great Society, should be uncomfortable with and wary of such an expansion both at federal and state levels.
We should be wary when, in his statement at the State Emergency Operations Center on Sunday, Governor Jared Polis wedged the state government into private enterprise and used hyperbolic rhetoric, claiming that the “grim reaper” should inspire us to bend to the direction of the state government and stay indoors. Further, his executive order mandating- not suggesting- that non-critical businesses reduce in-person workforce by 50% is a huge and egregious leap by the government into the private sector. He is correct to encourage Coloradans to practice social distancing during this time, but it should cause a reasonable level of protest to have a government issue such an invasive and economically damaging directive. We must not allow the government to have such direct control of private enterprise.
Governor Polis did get one other thing correct in his statement – this sort of directed mass-quarantining is unsustainable. Such direct government management of citizens’ lives should be unsustainable since it is an incursion by the government into our private lives.
We should be wary when Democrats in Congress sought to have many of the emergency provisions in COVID-inspired legislation go without a sunset provision. They sought to use this crisis and the accompanying panic and tragedy to advance and cement their metastasizing government policy as normalcy. This is only further demonstrated in their recent willingness to block COVID relief legislation because it did not include unrelated pork-barrel programs that they desire to sneak into existence.
We should even be wary when the Trump administration seeks to give all United States citizens $1,200 dollars. This and other measures pursued by President Trump and Republicans in Congress might be well-intended and debatably appropriate for the times, but the federal government’s expansion of power – its ability to exercise a command economy if things get dire enough – should be cause for some unease for us.
Should all levels of government be taking reasonably extraordinary measures during this COVID crisis? Absolutely, because these are extraordinary circumstances. In order to meet the needs of the American people, the government should work with and not intervene in private enterprise to ensure an expedient return to normalcy and health from our current situation. That being said, with that return to normalcy, so too should the government return to restricted – not growing – power.
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