MCGEACHIN: Stands for freedom

I applaud Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin for her bold gesture to restore freedom and sanity to our troubled society. Her willingness to step up and take an unambiguous stand against the simpering mediocrity of Gov. Little’s policies on the Wuhan Flu fill me with hope for the future.

Panic cannot prolong a life worth living. Restricting the freedom of others cannot stop a virus. Closing the economy has not closed down the disease. Warping the culture so those without masks are treated like they were wearing a Scarlet Letter of Shame did not definitively help anyone. Texas, South Dakota and Florida proved this.

Totalitarianism is no substitute for freedom under any circumstances. No emergency justifies the suspension of our Constitutional rights. To assert otherwise is to invite demagogues to exploit every crisis to accrue ever-more power at the expense of everyday Americans.

History is full of examples of what happens when a free people trusts a leader to save us from the risks of adulthood. For every Cincinnatus who proves worthy of such trust, there are myriad Caesars, Napoleons and Hitlers who perpetuate states of emergency indefinitely.

The COVID crisis has revealed a disturbing tendency among today’s Americans to eagerly submit themselves (and the rest of us) to the coercive power of the state. Far too many have allowed fear to transform us from the land of the free to the home of the craven. McGeachin has shown guts, vision and a dedication to freedom worthy of my support.

RALPH K. GINORIO

Coeur d’Alene