It would be even more tragic of we, who are free, returned to slavery

Selwyn Duke has a thoughtful piece at the American Thinker today entitled Why Accepting 2 Million COVID-19 Deaths May Be Better Than A National Lockdown. Of course, from the title of the article, one would expect that it is rather hard hearted. But as Duke says, he has loved ones who are at some risk of getting the virus and perhaps contributing to the statistics. And yet, as he also points out, public policy should not necessarily be made on the basis of one's compassion for a neighbor, but what may be best for the whole. That is why we pay people to do these jobs, and they better have a thick skin.

One thing that Duke brings up is the Spanish Flu of 1918-19.  I have mentioned the Spanish Flu that swept the world during WWI to people and get a "deer in the headlights" look.  They have no idea what I am talking about.  This is too bad, because knowing history provides perspective.  As Selwyn Duke writes:

Remember, too, that we’ve been through this before. During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19, 675,000 Americans died; adjusted for today’s U.S. population this amounts to a bit more than two million people — exactly our worst case scenario number.

Now, you may be asking yourselves, Why didn't the government DO SOMETHING?" The fact is there was little either government or medical science could do. The virus had to play out, and it killed a number of people. But, let's now get to the heart of what Duke is writing about today, namely the idea of trade offs. Is it worth it to destroy the economy, kill off jobs that will likely never return, and risk imposing a tyranny on the American people for the sake of a worst case scenario of 2 million dead. That 2 million represents o.67% of the population. Does it, in other words, make sense to impose draconian hardships on 99.3% of the population to save o.7%, irrespective of whether that 0.7% is likely to die soon anyway of their other diseases? That is the real question.

Unemployment claims are at a record high, but I don’t have to tell you how the current lockdowns are ravaging our economy. Many businesses and jobs will never come back, yet this concern not only is just the iceberg’s tip, it isn’t even, as critics may say, just about “money” — because money isn’t just about “money.”

Money represents resources, people’s capacity to obtain food, shelter, clothing, health care, education and everything else that preserves life and makes it worth living. Note here that poverty is associated with a host of negative health and health-related risks, such as a higher incidence of manifold diseases, depression, anxiety, stress-related disorders, suicide, domestic violence, child abuse and crime.

Yet even more must be considered. Remember now that if the following seems radical, it is a worst case scenario. And if we can consider the worst case scenario on one side of the equation, we must for balance and perspective consider the worst case scenario on the other side as well.

What if locking down the nation means causing a great depression lasting a decade or more?

What if this economic disaster leads, as history teaches it can, to the rise of demagogues and loss of freedom?

What if there are consequently millions more deaths from other causes due to economic malaise and descent toward tyranny?

What if, in other words, we essentially destroy our civilization as we know it? Will it have been worth it to ensure there’d be fewer Wuhan virus deaths — even two million, shocking though that number is? Civilizational destruction, something permanent, would be a steep price to pay to combat a pandemic, something temporary.

Benjamin Franklin, is reputed to have remarked that "those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Why is liberty "essential" Because, without it, we can not do what is right in the eyes of God, unless the State itself is aligned with God's will. But we have too often seen that the State becomes captive to the power hungry, while the people are impoverished and killed to preserve that power.

Today is Palm Sunday, the day Jesus entered triumphantly Jerusalem, and the beginning of a week that includes the Jewish Passover, and that ended in Jesus's Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection.  Tragic though His death was, it was done to save us all from slavery to sin.  The entire Bible is about this one event!  It would be even more tragic if we now were to return to slavery when we are free.