China’s leaders have watched the virus that exploded in their heartland spiral completely out of control. But surely they never dreamed that nearly the entire free world would imitate their city-level “quarantine” techniques in attempting to mitigate its spread.
I was shocked when I read that China, way back on Jan 23, had decided to “quarantine” all of Wuhan, a city of more than 10 million. I thought there was no way even China would do that. Turns out YES WAY (after as many as 5 million people had fled)! Unreal.
But even more unthinkable is that so many other nations have willingly followed their authoritarian example. We watched in shock as China violently imposed quarantine on nearly a billion of their citizens in early February, and stand by peacefully as many of our governors threaten fines and prison on those who would dare leave their property.
Make no mistake. Our formerly free countries currently differ from China only in degree. The Communists must be feeling a bit smug, validated in thinking that their controlling ways have been the best (and “safest”) way of doing things all along.
We all hope that life will soon return to normal. We trust that our elected officials generally want the best for us. But right now China is wondering why in Mao’s name our nation’s leaders would not want to MAINTAIN this kind of authority? It could be used to do so much good, of course! “PSB” stands for Public Security Bureau. Peacekeepers, they claim to be! All the Commies ever wanted was to keep the peace and protect the people, right?
Like it or not, the same arguments being used to control us now (“this is for your safety, for your well-being, to protect you”) are the same ones used by Communist police every day to restrict free-speech, quell dissent, block the internet, prohibit preaching, expel missionaries, and a thousand other things.
God forbid our nation’s leaders would ever abuse their authority, using public safety as a pretext for gaining or maintaining unrestrained (unconstitutional) control. Because the way things look right now we would not put up much of a fight.
C.S. Lewis said it well…
