This is the same government that has a growing list -- shared with fusion centers and law enforcement agencies -- of ideologies, behaviors, affiliations and other characteristics that could flag someone as suspicious and result in their being labeled potential enemies of the state.
Let that sink in a moment.
If you believe in and exercise your rights under the Constitution (namely, your right to speak freely, worship freely, associate with like-minded individuals who share your political views, criticize the government, own a weapon, demand a warrant before being questioned or searched, or any other activity viewed as potentially anti-government, racist, bigoted, anarchic or sovereign), you are most likely
Moreover, as a New York Times editorial warns, you may be an anti-government extremist (a.k.a.
Needless to say, if you happen to be passionate about the Constitution and a vocal critic of government corruption, you've already been flagged in a government database somewhere.
Likely, Lemp was, too.
Now Lemp is dead and his family is devastated, outraged and desperate to make sense of what appears to be an insensible act of violence resulting in an inexcusable loss of life.
As usual in these kinds of shootings,
So in order to voice their objections to police violence and demand answers about the shooting, Lemp's family and friends planned to conduct an outdoor public demonstration -- adhering to social distancing guidelines -- only to be
Yet here's the thing: we don't have to be muzzled and remain silent about government corruption, violence and misconduct just because we're wearing masks and social distancing.
That's not the point of this whole COVID-19 exercise, or is it?
While there is a moral responsibility to not endanger other lives with our actions, that does not mean relinquishing all of our freedoms.
Be responsible in how you exercise your freedoms, but don't allow yourselves to be muzzled or your individual freedoms to be undermined.
Understandably, no one wants to talk about individual freedoms when tens of thousands of people the world over are dying, and yet we must.
The decisions we make right now -- about freedom, commerce, free will, how we care for the least of these in our communities, what it means to provide individuals and businesses with a safety net, how far we allow the government to go in "protecting" us against this virus, etc. -- will haunt us for a long time to come.
At times like these, when emotions are heightened, fear dominates, common sense is in short supply, liberty takes a backseat to public safety, and democratic societies approach the tipping point towards mob rule, there is a tendency to cast those who exercise their individual freedoms (to freely speak, associate, assemble, protest, pursue a living, engage in commerce, etc.) as foolishly reckless, criminally selfish, or outright villains.
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