Public Fear Has Been Weaponized By Despots by Robert Socha

It is apparent to me that fear has a collective hold on our planet, and the response is despotic. We have thus submitted, and the oppressive edicts expand and lengthen, with no end in sight. The goalposts continue to move. And when those of us try to ensure the usurpation of our rights fails, many cry foul, stating the need to save lives.

I do miss the social interaction. Whenever I go to the supermarket, the palpable fear makes me cry. Last week I ran to the supermarket because we ran out of something simple like half-and-half. As I was walking through the store down the newly marked one-way isles, a family was there shopping. One of the sons, a boy of no more than 10, was wondering, as boys tend to do. As I approached, mind you, I was walking as close to the opposite side of the aisle as possible to honor their space, the father snatched his son and scolded him for being careless wandering into the path of a stranger. The great lengths people are going to avoid coming in proximity with another saddens my heart immeasurably. Am I to be treated like the lepers of old and cry unclean while walking the streets? Should we fear one another’s presence, whether friend or stranger, simply because we might be a “carrier”? (Which intones we might not be one.)

Consider the example of Jesus Christ in the account of him in Matthew 8, when the leper came to him and asked, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Jesus was willing to reach out and touch someone with a disease so deadly that they were banished from society, and made to live isolated lives with extreme punishment for coming into proximity of clean people. Jesus was willing to take on the disease to reach out, touch the unclean man, and heal him.

I am still employed, for which I am grateful, but this tyrannical deluge of usurpation and the abject failure of government, federal and state, to truthfully promote the general welfare, has me in a tizzy.

I postulate the coverage of this ‘epidemic’ has been ‘FIRE’ yelled to the entire population, which has created fear. And when people respond fearfully, they are more apt to allow their freedoms infringed. We, the people, should be given the best possible information and trusted to act in the best interests of our families. We can then choose to stay home, or we can choose to work, knowing the risks. Remember, quarantine is for the sick, martial law is for the populace.

Lives lost prematurely because of a virus is a terrible thing, but they are not more important than our Liberty. Our Founding Fathers pledged their lives before God, to secure our Liberty, they laid down their lives in the Revolution, and we are supposed to acquiesce to the destruction of our way of life because a virus is rampant, forced to stay in our homes! I say, absolutely not.

If you are not aware, Michigan’s governor and legislature are in a legal battle as she continues to extend the “stay-at-home” order. The encroachment on so many people’s livelihoods is astounding. Some of these restrictions were lifting since I began writing this piece, but the overreach is palpable.

Yes, Michigan suffers from the Coronavirus. With the virus spreading into the population, this is unavoidable. The outbreak has mostly occurred in 3 counties, so locking down the entire state’s economy is overreach.

The financial stress put upon our state’s economy in the last month has been tremendous. The government cannot print enough money to make up for the lost wages in employment and the businesses put in jeopardy, especially those that operate on the smallest of margins. Financial woes are a significant component to men’s hearts failing and marriages ending. The shutting of rural hospitals has cut their cash flow to the point of insolvency. For example, our local rural hospital, Hillsdale Hospital, wrote an open letter to Governor Whitmer, to allow them to operate business-as-usual to generate revenue and hopefully avoid closing, permanently. How many would be negatively affected having to travel at least 30 minutes farther to the nearest hospital emergency room? How many would lose their lives? What about those possible unintended consequences to these lock-downs? Are those lives any more or less important than someone who has contracted Covid-19? No, they are equal in their human value.

As for those of us who Believe, we should be bold and strong and courageous and stand for Liberty. There is a terrible scourge on the land, nay the entire world. Take precautions, pray earnestly for the Lord to restore us, and shine as lights in this darkness, offering the Hope of eternal life that is found in Christ alone.

I am, more than ever before, understanding that standing for what you believe is worth your life, whether it’s Liberty in politics or Liberty in Christ. What a time God has graced us to live.