Governments are properly servants of their citizens. But if you’re a politician without principles or a dictator wannabe — and it does not matter if the issue is religious belief, marijuana use, or Covid — the pattern is always the same:
* First, you paternalistically order citizens to comply, rather than advising and recommending free citizens in the exercise of their self-responsibility.
* Second, you order the police — whose function is to stop internal criminals — to use their guns and threats of jail to compel compliance from citizens.
* Third, you bring in the military — whose job is to protect citizens against external enemies — to enforce internal obedience of one’s own citizens.
“Military dictatorship” is not an empty phrase.
This post is prompted by news out of Australia, which has a tradition of liberal democracy, that the government has deployed the military against its own citizens.
“But many have questioned whether the military intervention is necessary, calling it heavy-handed.”
“Heavy-handed” is a really polite euphemistic way of describing freedom-destroying, rights-violating, totalitarian intervention. We wouldn’t want to offend anyone involved with destroying the lives of others, now would we?
If loving freedom is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Agreed!
A few comments worth being shared on this topic, I believe:
I can’t speak in first-hand experience about Australia, but as a liberal democracy and if anything like the USA, our saving grace are the men and women in uniform at all levels of leadership who have sworn to uphold and defend our Constitution from ” all enemies, foreign and domestic,” in addition to the Bill of Rights securing our people’s civil liberties and inherent rights and freedoms.
Thank God for our Constitution and those who came before us who put it together.
The vast majority of our service members in military and law enforcement take their oath seriously. This I know as a fact. The professionalism, honor, and duty that our armed forces possess, will not allow them to blatantly disregard lawful commands and policies from above, ie., the Executive Branch. That is why they are professional and worthy of the honor and respect afforded those who keep a liberal democracy free from tyranny and corruption and do so with sacrifice. The last thing our military wants to see happen is military force used against their own people, as in a case of putting down a potential coup or revolution. Thus, our “citizen soldiers,” comprise a very large segment of the military and law enforcement population ( eg. both federal and non-federal as in the case of the National Guard or local police & sheriff’s office).
Yet, the laws and policies that do encroach upon our constitutional rights are quickly brought to light and vigorously discussed at all levels, with the hope and faith that our other branches of government and leaders will right themselves before it gets to a tipping point. So far, this system has proved sustainable. But that doesn’t mean we should become complacent.
I think it’s worth pointing out as in the case of the Capital Hill riots, for example, it’s an important lesson that rage (sometimes righteous and deserved) combined with mob mentality can quickly escalate and cause potential devastation. The numerous BLM riots that preceded January 6th were even worse on a national level but obviously down played by the media and many on the Left. Politics is ugly, indeed. Those in service of government are required by law not to partake in partisan issues, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a brain and can’t speak up, when they know something is wrong…
Our liberal democratic societies are going through a bad time in history but it’s been challenged before. Between all of us who want to do the right thing and learn from history in order to prevent the same horrible mistakes over and over, we continue to press on with vigor but also with a touch of reserved optimism to keep our heads level, when others are not.
Australia has decided on tough lockdown measures to control the outbreak. Several elections have been held, and the people have spoken – it is what the vast majority wants. In Australia, we do not have a bill of rights etc. That was by design. The framers decided the democratic process can work through those things. You may disagree with it – but it is how Australia is. In Australia, the ethos of the battler and democratic freedom is powerful. Australia tried things like home quarantine – they failed – something like over 50% were not there when people checked how they were going. Obviously, stronger compliance measures are necessary. Police, of course, enforce such laws. Was there overreach – you bet. For example, there was a little old lady with a walker but no mask. Police swarmed on her when a friendly police officer should have gone over and enquired what was going on and helped her out. That needed to be fixed and hopefully has. But there are a limited number of police that have all sorts of duties beyond Covid management. Asking the Army for help is not a violation of human rights or democracy. It is a reasonable reaction to a bad situation. No human rights have been violated beyond mistakes that people have been appropriately admonished/punished for. There is no systematic dictatorship in Australia. Our ethos would not allow it.
No human rights have been breached? How about detention without trial? Everyone has been locked in their homes because 9 people got ill and died. Nine! People get sick and die every single day. It’s natural. And now because the media have focussed on this one disease, you are locked up without trial because of what throughout the rest of history has been totally normal. What will you be locked up for next time? Climate change? How long before a tin pot dictator realises he only has to release a nasty bug into the west and they will collapse their economies and incarcerate their entire population?
Don’t ask if a policy is good in this circumstance. Ask if it is good in the worst scenario.
Detention without trial is legal. Where did you get the idea it wasn’t? Not only is it legal, but it is sometimes required to enforce laws related to reckless endangerment, intoxication, suspected terrorists, people that claim to be refugees, cognitive and psychiatric impairment etc. If you would like an example from the US, indefinite detention has been used to hold terror suspects during the War on Terror.
Do you know what R0 is? It is the number of people one case will infect. It is estimated to be about 8 for the Delta variant, although it varies a bit depending on the source.
If 8 and left unchecked, every person in Australia could be infected in a few weeks. Since it can take 2 weeks before symptoms show, before the medical system can do anything, it can be too late. A fast, hard, early lockdown has so far proved to be the best defence. In NSW, they treated it like normal Covid using experienced contact tracers. What they found was they were always too late in locating contacts before they infected others. The death rate of the Sydney outbreak is .4% – so we are looking, without precautions, at perhaps 200,000 dying. What precautions we take is determined by the democratic process. Here in Aus, the people have spoken – they want safety from the virus. So laws, based on long understood principles of justice, such as reckless endangerment, have been made to manage it. Australia is a free democratic country, but different from other countries like the US that have things in their constitution that prevent democracy from easily operating, e.g. gun laws. We do as well, of course, but they are less than the US. I will not argue if it is the best approach, but it is how things are here.
Australians are not stupid enough to believe this climate change extinction rebellion rubbish. It has been rejected in elections by a vast majority many times. You either have faith in democracy, or you do not. I’m afraid I have to disagree with Ayn Rand, who thinks of it as just mob rule. I believe it is a way to ensure laws etc., adapt to changing situations.
A part of the problem is Australia’s “democracy” has got them only 15% of people with two shots. And now they have a huge number with no natural immunity. This most likely will drag on for them for a few years. But imagine how low their death rate will be? Some kids wont ever get to have a real childhood but then think about the marginal safety improvements for those over 75 that havent been vaccinated. Guys like Bill weigh this evidence they do the calculus and vote. Deal with it., says Bill. Doesnt matter if Bill already lived his life and that he has a vested interest in protecting himself that is completely different than a productive 18 year old ( he should recuse himself because of this but wont, by golly he’s a voter)
Perhaps surprisingly, I agree with much of that. Australia’s vaccine rollout has been a disaster. There is no need to detail why; mostly, it is government bureaucratic ineptitude, and people are reacting irrationally. For example, people are AZ vaccine-hesitant. My sister refuses to get vaccinated with it. The reason is in Aus; there is a 1 in a million chance of dying. That scares the bejesus out of many people. Yet what they ignore, or likely do not even know, is getting out of the bed has a 2.5 in a million chance of dying. So, logically, if 1 in a million risk worries you, you should not even get out of bed. Fortunately, studies have shown that when most vaccine-hesitant people talk to their doctor they get vaccinated. I am hopeful here in Aus; we will eventually achieve high vaccination rates. Modelling the NSW breakout shows if mass vaccination happens in Sydney, 70% of people vaccinated show things will return close to normal in approximately 5 weeks. Knowing this, Sydney people are lining up for the vaccine, even AZ. So there is hope, but Sydney needs to keep the lid on it as long as they can. I must also mention, like many people, I often vote for what I think is in my best interests. As Winston Churchill said, democracy is the worst system ever devised except for any other tried.
How about a bill to make Bill illegal? Can we vote on that? Just kidding, best wishes mate. And remember to stay safe at all costs that you don’t have to bare 🙂
Let’s talk again in over a year..