An ACLU Attorney writes “To save lives, all but eight states have already imposed aggressive measures almost never utilized outside wartime. As the death toll climbs, more severe measures may be on the way. Several prominent voices have now advocated imposition of a nationwide lockdown. A noted progressive legal academic even suggested such measures should be immune from judicial oversight. And the Justice Department has proposed that Congress grant it draconian emergency powers.

While the coronavirus is no doubt frightening, so too is massive state power wielded in the name of emergency. I recently felt that power in a very real way, because when the coronavirus pandemic arose I was on sabbatical in Sri Lanka with my family (including my father, a physician). The government there responded by imposing a military curfew, which we lived under for a week before we managed to get out. Authorities arrested several thousand people simply for leaving their homes. Bunkered down in our rented house, we worried about whether we had enough food to last until the curfew lifted. On the afternoon we returned to California I went for a walk with my family — without fearing arrest — for the first time in days. I have never felt the difference between life here and there so viscerally.

In this country we are taught to pause when asked to trade liberty for security. So we should take a moment to analyze the legal constraints governing potential lockdown proposals inside the United States. Could the federal government or a state impose a Sri Lankan-style lockdown to stop the pandemic? Could the courts be excluded from overseeing such emergency action?

Constitutional law provides substantial guidance for understanding the government’s authority to respond to the pandemic. While court cases involving quarantines to control infectious disease are (thankfully) sparse, “lockdown” in its various forms is a species of preventive detention: a restriction on physical liberty without a finding of guilt after criminal trial. Although the Supreme Court has stated that “in our society liberty is the norm, and detention … without trial is the carefully limited exception,” our constitutional system has long recognized several forms of preventive detention as lawful. Most relevant here, the state may preventively detain individuals who have a serious mental disorder and present a danger to themselves or others.

In general, any exercise of preventive detention authority raises three basic constitutional questions. First, does the state have substantive authority in this context to detain without a criminal trial? Second, is the state’s exercise of that authority reasonable in relation to its purpose – i.e., are the length and conditions of confinement necessary to address the harm at issue? Third, has the state provided adequate procedures to ensure the criteria for exercise of that authority are met for the particular individual(s) involved?

Substantive Authority

Governmental authorities in this country — whether federal or state — almost certainly have authority to preventively detain people to protect public health. One might argue the government should not have power to lockdown people who have done nothing wrong. But the fact that individuals facing lockdown have committed no act that could be criminalized actually strengthens the argument for detention without trial in this context. As with individuals whose insanity makes them dangerous, because the danger here does not arise from any voluntary conduct, the criminal justice system has limited power to address the threat to public safety. The handful of modern cases about quarantine thus recognize the government’s power to detain people with deadly infectious diseases in the name of public safety.” [MORE]

All three questions cited above will be decided by the government [the court is also the government] for the government. Any so-called subjective interest balancing by the court and government lawyers in the name of the public good will rarely yield to individual rights. Observe that there is no real limit to government authority exercised in the name of the public good. This is the essence of the lawless society that is rarely visible to the obedient citizenry - law is upheld and deified over humanity. FUNKTIONARY defines the “public good” as a Corporate Statist anti-concept – being the altar on which feudal-citizen-victims are immolated.” Dr. Blynd set forth the following:

Tyranny Law #1 - Any power that can be abused will be abused.

Tyranny Law #2 - Abuse always expands to fill the limits of resistance to it.

Tyranny Law #3 - If people don't resist the abuses of others, they will have no one to resist the abuses of themselves, and tyranny will prevail. [MORE]

In reality “Government” and “authority” do not exist but our belief in them is real.

Larken Rose explains, “the belief in “authority,” which includes all belief in “government,” is irrational and self-contradictory; it is contrary to civilization and morality, and constitutes the most dangerous, destructive superstition that has ever existed. Rather than being a force for order and justice, the belief in “authority” is the arch-enemy of humanity.” He states “the primary danger posed by the myth of “authority” is to be found not in the minds of the controllers in “government” but in the minds of those being controlled, One nasty individual who loves to dominate others is a trivial threat to humanity unless a lot of other people [believe] such domination as legitimate because it is achieved via the “laws” of “government.”

Rose defines “Authority” as the supposed moral right to forcibly control others. Allegedly governmental authority comes from the people. But people cannot delegate rights they do not possess to the government. How can you give something you don’t have? You don’t have the right to initiate unprovoked acts of force against other people - so how can you delegate or authorize anyone else to do such things? This makes it impossible for anyone to acquire the right to rule (”authority”).

The type of government system really just determines how much authority is used to control the people. How much authority actually applied by a government depends upon how much a particular people are willing to [coercively consent] to.

According to FUNKTIONARY, "Government" is Latinized Greek ("Gubematlo" = control; and from the Latin "menre" = mind; it means "The control of the mind." 2) an abstraction (hoax) created for the sole purpose of making theft respectable and mind-control acceptable.

"Statism - the belief "citizens"' and "states" exist and the memetic thought patterns supporting such beliefs. 2) the religion of oppression and domination coupled with the science of exploitation and sociopathic control. 3) the opiate of the so-called Elites. 4) a philosophy that idealizes majority rule gang force (authority) over individual authenticity (autonomy). 5) servitude over liberty and statutes over humanity." [MORE]

FUNKTIONARY explains there are no tyrants; only tyranny exists. How can one man or woman rule a multitude against their will except through mind-control and word-conditioning control? "Find out the exact amount of injustice any people accept, and you will find out the exact amount of injustice they receive." FUNKTIONARY states, “tyranny must have an accomplice. The perpetrator by intent must be accommodated by the perpetrator by consent. The former initiates, the latter accommodates.” “We get the government we deserve.”

The real threat to "authority" is the masses overcoming info-gaps and verigaps through self-knowledge and the proliferation of symbols of opposition, not crime or destruction of property. [MORE]

Dr. Blynd explains "Government" has replaced religion as the opiate of the masses using the Media as its subduing gasses (fumes of subterfuge). During an “emergency” the government especially lathers itself up in power and “turns public fear to its own advantage.” Larken Rose states:

The Religion of “Government”

“Government” is neither a scientific concept nor a rational sociological construct; nor is it a logical, practical method of human organization and cooperation. The belief in “government” is not based on reason; it is based on faith, In truth, the belief in “government” is a religion, made up of a set of dogmatic teachings, irrational doctrines which fly in the face of both evidence and logic, and which are methodically memorized and repeated by the faithful. Like other religions, the gospel of “government” describes a superhuman, supernatural entity, above mere mortals, which issues commandments to the peasantry, for whom unquestioning obedience is a moral imperative, Disobeying to the commandments (“breaking the law”) is viewed as a sin, and the faithful delight in the punishment of the infidels and sinners (“criminals”), while at the same time taking great pride in their own loyalty and humble subservience to their god (as “law-abiding taxpayers”). And while the mortals may humbly beg their lord for favors, and for permission to do certain things, it is considered blasphemous and outrageous for one of the lowly peasants to imagine himself to be fit to decide which of the “government” god’s “laws” he should follow and which it is okay for him to ignore. Their mantra is, “You can work to try to change the law, but as long as it’s the law, we all have to follow it!”

The religious nature of the belief in “authority” is put on display for all to see whenever people solemnly stand, with their hands upon their hearts, and religiously proclaim their undying faith in, and loyalty to, a flag and a “government” (the “republic”). It rarely occurs to those who recite the Pledge of Allegiance, while feeling deep pride, that what they are actually doing is swearing allegiance to a system of subjugation and authoritarian control. In short, they are promising to do as they are told, and behave as loyal subjects to their masters. Aside from the patently inaccurate phrase at the end about “liberty and justice for ail,” the entire Pledge is about subservience to the “government” which claims to represent the collective, as if that in itself is some great and noble goal, The Pledge, and the mentality and emotions it is intended to stir up, would apply equally well to any tyrannical regime in history. It is a promise to be obedient and easily controlled, to subordinate oneself to “the republic,” rather than a promise to do the right thing, Many other patriotic rituals and songs, as well as the overtly religious reverence given to two pieces of parchment – the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution – also demonstrate that people do not merely view “government” as a practical necessity: they view it as a god, to be praised and worshiped, honored and obeyed.

The main factor distinguishing the belief in “government” from other religions today is that people actually believe in the god called “government,” The other gods people claim to believe in, and the churches they attend, are now, by comparison, little more than empty rituals and half-heartedly parroted superstitions. When it comes to their everyday lives, the god that people actually pray to, to save them from misfortune, to smite their enemies, and to shower them with blessings, is “government.” It is “government” whose commandments the people most often respect and obey, Whenever a conflict arises between “government” and the teachings of the lesser gods – such as “pay your fair share” (taxation) versus “Thou shalt not steal,” or “duty to country” (military service) versus “Thou shalt not murder”– the commands of “government” supersede all the teachings of the other religions. Politicians, the high priests of the church of “government”– the mouthpieces and representatives of “government,” who deliver the sacred “law” from on high – even openly declare that it is permissible for the people to practice whatever religion they wish, as long as they do not run afoul of the supreme religion by disobeying “the law”– meaning the dictates of the god called “government.”

Perhaps most telling is that if you suggest to the average person that maybe God does not exist, he will likely respond with less emotion and hostility than if you bring up the idea of life without “government.” This indicates which religion people are more deeply emotionally attached to, and which religion they actually believe in more firmly. In fact, they believe so deeply in “government” that they do not even recognize it as being a belief at all. The reason so many people respond to the idea of a stateless society (”anarchy”) with insults, apocalyptic predictions and emotional tantrums, rather than with calm reasoning, is because their belief in “government” is not the result of careful, rational consideration of evidence and logic. It is, in every way, a religious faith, believed only because of prolonged indoctrination. And there is almost nothing which state- worshipers find more existentially terrifying than contemplating the possibility that “government” – their savior and protector, teacher and master – does not actually exist, and never did.

Many political rituals have overtly religious overtones to them. The grandiose, cathedral- like buildings, the pomp and circumstance at inaugurations and other “government” ceremonies, the traditional costumes and age-old rituals, the way the members of the ruling class are treated and described (e.g., “honorable”), all give such proceedings an air of holiness and reverence, far more indicative of religious rites than of a practical means of collective organization.

It might be nice to have some morally superior, all-powerful deity to protect the innocent and to prevent injustice. And that is what statists hope “government” will be: a wise, unbiased, all-knowing and all-powerful “final decider” that will override and supersede the flawed, shortsighted and selfish whims of man, unerringly dispensing justice and fairness. However, there is no such thing, and can be no such thing, and there are many reasons why it is utterly foolish to look to “government” as the solution to human imperfection. For example, what almost every statist wants is for “government” to enforce objective rules of civilized behavior, More specifically each individual wants his own perception of justice and morality to be enforced by “authority,” while failing to realize that the moment there is an “authority,” it is no longer up to that individual to decide what counts as moral or just – the “authority” will claim the right to do that for him. And so, over and over again, believers in “authority” have tried to create an all- powerful force for good by anointing some people as rulers, only to quickly learn that once the master is on the throne, he does not care what his slaves were hoping he would do with the power they gave him.

And this has happened to all kinds of statists, with very different beliefs and agendas. Socialists assert that “government” is needed to “fairly” redistribute wealth; Objectivists assert that “government” is needed to protect individual rights; Constitutionalists assert that a “government” is needed to carry out only those tasks listed in the Constitution; believers in democracy assert that “government” is needed to carry out the will of the majority; many Christians assert that “government” is needed to enforce God’s laws; and so on. And in every case the people end up disappointed, because the “authority” always changes the plan in order to serve the interests of the people in power. Once a set of rulers are “in charge,” what the masses had intended for them to do with their power does not matter. This fact has been demonstrated by every “government” in history, Once the people create a master, tie people, by definition, are no longer in charge.

To expect otherwise, even without all of the historical examples, is absurd. To expert the master to serve the slave – to expect power to be used solely for the benefit of the one being controlled, not the one in control – is ridiculous. What makes it even more insane is that statists claim that appointing rulers is the only way to overcome the imperfections and untrustworthiness of man. Statists look out at a world full of strangers who have questionable motives and dubious morality, and they are afraid of what some of those people might do. That, in and of itself, is a perfectly reasonable concern. But then, as protection against what some of those people might do, the statists advocate giving some of those same people of questionable virtue a huge amount of power, and societal permission to rule over everyone else, in the vain hope that, by some miracle, those people will happen to decide to use their newfound power only for good. In other words, the statist looks at his fellow man and thinks, “I do not trust you to be my neighbor, but I do trust you to be my master.”

Bizarrely, almost every statist admits that politicians are more dishonest, corrupt, conniving and selfish than most people, but still insists that civilization can exist only if those particularly untrustworthy people are given both the power and the right to forcibly control everyone else. Believers in “government” truly believe that the only thing that can keep them safe from the flaws of human nature is taking some of those flawed humans – some of the most flawed, in fact – and appointing them as gods, with the right to dominate all of mankind, in the absurd hope that, if given such tremendous power, such people will use it only for good, And the fact that that has never happened in the history of the world does not stop statists from insisting that it “needs” to happen to ensure peaceful civilization.

(Author’s personal note; I say all of this as a former devout statist, who for most of my life not only accepted the self-contradictions and delusional rationalizations underlying the myth of “government,” but vehemently spread the mythology myself. I did not escape my own authoritarian indoctrination quickly or comfortably, but let go of the superstition slowly and reluctantly, with much intellectual “kicking and screaming” along the way. I mention this only so that it may be understood that when I refer to the belief in “authority” as utterly irrational and insane, I am attacking my own prior beliefs as much as anyone else’s. -Larken Rose)

Another way to look at it is that statists worry that different people have different beliefs, different viewpoints, different standards of morality. They express concerns such as “What if there is no government and someone thinks it’s okay to kill me and steal my stuff?” Yes, if there are conflicting views – as there always have been and always will be – they can lead to conflict, The authoritarian “solution” is that, instead of everyone deciding for himself what is right and what he should do, there should be a central “authority” that will make one set of rules that will be enforced on everyone. Statists obviously hope that the “authority” will issue and enforce the right rules, but they never explain how or why this would happen. Since the edicts of “government” are written by mere human beings – usually exceptionally power-hungry, corrupt human beings – why should anyone expect their “rules” to be better than the “rules” each individual would choose for himself?

The belief in “government” does not make everyone agree; it only creates an opportunity to drastically escalate personal disagreements into large-scale wars and mass oppression. Nor does having an “authority” settling a dispute do anything to guarantee that the “right” side wins. Yet statists talk as if “government” will be fair, reasonable, and rational in situations where individuals would not be. Again, this demonstrates that believers in “government” imagine “authority” to have superhuman virtues that should be trusted above the virtues of mere mortals. History shows otherwise, A twisted sense of morality in one person, or a few, can result in the murder of one person, or even dozens, but that same twisted sense of morality in just a few people, when they get hold of the machine called “government,” can result in the murder of millions. The statist wants his idea of the “good rules” forced on everyone by a central “authority,” but has no way to make that happen and no reason to expect that it will happen. In their search for an all-powerful “good guy” to save the day, statists always end up creating all-powerful bad guys. Over and over again, they build giant, unstoppable “government” monsters in the hope that they will defend the innocent, only to find that the monsters become a far greater threat to the innocent than the threats they were created to protect against.

Ironically, what statists actually advocate in their attempts to guarantee jus ice for all is the legitimization of evil. The truth is that all the belief in “authority” ever does, and all it ever can do, is to introduce more immoral violence into society. This is not an unfortunate coincidence, or the side effect of a basically good idea. It is a truism based upon the nature of the belief in “authority,” and this is easy to logically prove. [MORE]