8 PM March 16, 2020: A Moment That Will Live in Infamy

    Four hours before St. Patrick's Day, and nobody in New Jersey would be permitted to go out celebrating in their favorite pub. Why might this be? Well, at around 6 PM our illustriously evil governor, decided that all bars and restaurants should close at 8 PM, until further notice, in order to "flatten the curve" and ameliorate hospital impact from a virus that is currently traversing the globe. It is the novel coronavirus, or COVID19. It's not just the food service industry affected. Oh, no. There is a list of business-types that were deemed non-essential, including gyms, theaters, clothing stores, and other such service-providing establishments. The mandate includes a quarantine of the healthy, an 8 o'clock PM "suggested curfew," and stay-at-home orders with an admonition to only leave your home for necessary trips to the grocery stores. 

     Unfortunately, this unprecidented tyrannical act is not singular. Some states have been in lockdown for several days to weeks. Tyranny is the order of the day; with complete abridgement of our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Governors are giddy about wielding their executive orders and dictatorial stop-gap measures. They are intoxicated with power, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is prominent among the drunkards. Andrew Cuomo of New York, Gavin Newsome of California, Net Lamont of Connecticut, and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan also top the list of the most power-hungry. There will certainly be more to follow.

     Businesses of all kinds are scrambling to find solutions to the government overreach. Plans are being made for remote working. Jobs that were traditionally in an office setting, which allowed for fullment of more than just income, but also socialization are being shuttered in favor of isolation. Children are forced from their classrooms to their homes to learn solely online in virtual settings. This is criminal, unconstitutional and amoral.

     The most disconcerting of the developments is the response of the populace to accept, and obey, what is being forced onto them. Not only are these measures being accepted, they are welcomed. What has happened to this country? Why are we looking to government for guidance to a health issue? A science issue? It makes no sense to me. Although we are a secularly established country, it seems that the left has succeeded in turning government into a religion. What a terrifying development! It is the same road that Stalin, Mao, Kim Il Sung, Pol Pot, and other totalitarian despots traveled, only here the leftist indroctrination of our youth has them going, not kicking and screaming as I, and my fellow conservatives, but willingly... almost gleefully.  America is once again in crisis and the immortal words of the great freedom-thinking Thomas Paine are once again sadly relevant: "These are the times that try men's souls." Indeed!