From: Tim Grimm
Columbus
I write in response to Andrew Horning’s recent column “Gov. Holcomb’s ‘special’ laws." Noting he was with the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, I took a deep breath before diving into the article I knew would be driven by Libertarian notions of personal freedom and restriction of government.
Horning gets right to that point by describing government as an entity that has the power to "do to people," as opposed to a more generous interpretation that government might be here to do things "for the people."
Next, Horning describes a certain Indiana code as a "ream of legal effluvium." This code is the Emergency Management and Disaster Law.
Gov. Holcomb has attempted to put certain guidelines into place that would help to protect Hoosiers – nothing more and nothing less. (I will note that Holcomb should have kept his initial non-compliance penalty attached and pressed for enforcement.) Folks, this pandemic demands extreme action and focus and therefore – leadership. Indeed, it is because we as a nation currently lack such leadership (and that it is misguided and unfocused to such an extent) that we have handled this virus response so pitifully.
It is perhaps ironic, or perhaps a reflection of The Republic’s approach and desire to balance it’s news sources and reporting, that in the same edition (Wednesday, Aug. 5), there was a red and bold-titled article “Too many are selfish,” that described our nation as yet unable to come to grips with this pandemic with a unified virus response.
Selfish is an apt word. Our notion of "freedom" has edged ever so slightly — inflamed by a nationalistic "right" of the individual — into the realm of doing whatever we want to do. We have a current mandate, albeit lacking consequential teeth, that says we must wear masks. That is a not an infringement on freedom, and the virus is not a hoax.
Social distancing and masks are a proven, undeniable means of slowing or halting the spread of this pandemic. If we could only embrace that notion, we could be as great as the other nations who are currently doing a much better job of protecting their citizens. Our death numbers and infection rates are easily the highest in the world.
And yet people like the columnist run around crying foul because the governor has not gone through the proper channels to protect Hoosiers. In other states and nations — where leadership on this issue has been quick, decisive, firm and unrelenting — the virus has begun to abate. To run a selfish notion of freedom up the flag pole — in contrast to securing the health of us all — displays the willingness of some Libertarian and right-wing thinkers to sacrifice the lives of their fellow citizens for the price of not having to wear a mask. Selfish indeed.
