I remember 2009 and the H1N1 (Swine Flu) epidemic. How can I forget? I was working missions as a Federal Air Marshal, inside a confined space and exposing myself to thousands of people.
I never got sick, the country was never placed on lockdown, businesses were not bankrupted by the government, and the country didn’t spend over 10 trillion dollars (by the time this is over) of money we don’t have. But most importantly, Americans were not forced to abdicate their Constitutional Rights.
On April 15, 2009, the first case of H1N1 was reported in the state of California. By June 25, 2009, the Center for Disease Control announced an estimate of 1 million cases of H1N1had occurred in the United States. It wasn’t until August 11, 2010, when the World Health Organization declared the H1N1 pandemic as over.
These are the numbers from the CDC when everything was said and done.
- From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1) pdm09 virus.
When one puts everything into perspective, the H1N1 was a pretty serious pandemic. President Barack Obama waited six months to declare it a National Emergency and by then over 1,000 Americans had already died of the virus. Maybe not the best response expected from the government; nevertheless, the country continued to operate at a pretty normal pace.
Many people would think that President Obama and many Democratic Party governors would have taken this opportunity to assumed central control of American’s everyday life, but it didn’t happen. Life went on!
Fast forward to 2020:
From the CDC:
“In December 2019, an outbreak of a novel Coronavirus infection (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, China (1). Although China launched an emergency response early in the outbreak, the infection rapidly spread to metropolitan areas in China and around the world. The growing number of cases suggests that the epidemic has continued to spread. Several research articles have reported the epidemiologic characteristics of the outbreak in Wuhan and Hubei Province (1–4); however, to our knowledge, an analysis of the epidemic in metropolis areas around Wuhan has not yet been reported. To predict the epidemic trend and guide control measures, especially in similar metropolitan areas, outbreak investigations are needed.
Shenzhen, a modern and international metropolitan city, is located in southern China (Appendix Figure 1) and has a population of 13 million persons, among which >1 million are from Hubei Province and >70,000 from Wuhan. After the first cluster of COVID-19 cases was confirmed in Shenzhen in early January 2020 (5), other cases spread within the city, involving all districts. To summarize the epidemiologic characteristics and provide updated information to aid in the development of control measures, we analyzed data for the first 365 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Shenzhen”.
By January of 2020, the CDC and the United States government were well aware of the outbreak in Wuhan, China. On January 31, 2020, the Trump Administration immediately enacted major travel restrictions from China into the United Sates and issued a Quarantine order, the first one in over 50 years.
Some will argue it wasn’t fast enough, but I do believe these early actions by the administration were spot on. At the end they may prove to have saved lives. But at what price?
Sometimes the cure can be more deadly than the disease, and in this case I believe our Constitutional Rights have been violated in the name of safety. I am all for American’s well being, but giving the facts I have outline in the paragraphs above, this, in my opinion, has been a government manufactured crisis of unprecedented proportions.
This is my list of alleged Constitutional Rights violations and my reasoning behind them. Let me be clear, my argument is based on the lack of “Due Process” and moral grounds.
Article [I] (Amendment 1 – Freedom of expression and religion)13
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
If I am ordered by the government not to attend religious services, that’s a clear violation of my freedom to freely exercise my speech, my right to peacefully assemble and my right to exercise my religion as I wish.
Article [IV] (Amendment 4 – Search and Seizure)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
How can I feel safe and secured in my own house when government has by defacto placed me under house arrest by ordering me to stay at home? This has been done without probable cause or a valid warrant. A “Stay at Home” order without due process is nothing more than home confinement and an unlawful seizure.
Article [V] (Amendment 5 – Rights of Persons)
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
When I’m ordered to stay at home or otherwise I will face a fine or placed under arrest, that’s a clear deprivation of my right to life and liberty.
When government orders a private business to close their doors without proper compensation is, in a sense, taking illegal ownership of such business. By doing so, the government is depriving those owners of their private property.
Article [IX] (Amendment 9 – Unenumerated Rights)
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
“The enumerated powers in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”.
“Our privacy must be respected, unless forbidden by state law. Some rights are not in the Constitution, but are still protected. Equally, certain rights are in the Constitution and they should be protected”.
This is simple; the rights of the American people should be protected at all cost. When the government violates even one Article, the government, be Federal or State, are in violation of the principles enumerated in Article IX.
Article XIV (Amendment 14 – Rights Guaranteed: Privileges and Immunities of Citizenship, Due Process, and Equal Protection)
1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The government can’t deprive American citizens of life, liberty, or property without due process, period.
Governments, be at the Federal or State level, imposing unconstitutional “lockdowns” and involuntarily closing businesses without proper compensation, such acts seem, to me, a violation of the Constitution. By not been afforded the right to due process and equal protection under the law, citizens rights are not been equally protected under Article XIV.
I understand during a national emergency the government has constitutional flexibility as indicated by the Supreme Court of the United States. My argument in addition to be a constitutional argument; it is a moral argument. Just because the government can do it, does it make it right?
In 2002, John W. Dean, former counsel to the President, wrote an interesting article titled; Presidential Powers in Times of Emergency: Could Terrorism Result in a Constitutional Dictatorship.
His position was based on the presidential actions after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the military, but I think it can be used to analyze the actions today related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the reaction by federal and state governments.
https://supreme.findlaw.com/legal-commentary/presidential-powers-in-times-of-emergency.html
Could the actions taken by many state governments across the country be construed as Constitutional Dictatorship? You can arrive at your own conclusions.
Throughout history, it has been a historical fact when government’s takes away citizen’s rights, even for a moment, they rarely give them back to the people.
What’s going to happen once the pandemic is over?
Are we going to back to “normal”? What’s normal? What normal will look like?
Is the government going to allow private businesses to go back to business as usual? Are they going to demand a piece of the private pie?
Is the government going to nationalize the airlines and the auto industries?
Will Americans be, once again, allowed to associate freely; will they be free to exercise their religious beliefs?
Are we going to have free elections come November 3, 2020, or are we going to be sent on a constitutional crisis rollercoaster?
Only time will tell.
