It looks like we may get a few reprieves from our SIP (shelter in place). Since March 17 we have had to wear masks, stay in the house and not congregate. Walking on the beach or even in your own neighborhood has had severe restrictions as to the way you have to dress and how close you can get to anyone else.
I just went on to the net and read the SIP for Monterey County. It is strange that immediately under the heading for how you have to stay at home or go out only on essential needs, it says, “Please read this order carefully, violation or failure to comply with this order is a misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment or both.” Hmm.
It’s not like the authorities are trying to get rich, but they seem pretty inclined to let you know that by walking your dog or having your son help you wash the car, you are in violation of this ordinance and the authorities can issue you a citation that will enrich the county coffers. It’s getting to be like license laws. Doesn’t it seem you need a license to do just about anything?
If it seems like I am a little skittish about the way this pandemic is being handled, believe me, you would be correct. I’m older, so I remember when laws were passed by the legislature and enforced by the executive branch through the authority we give to our elected officials. It seems the executive branch has just taken a short cut and decided that they can make the same laws, by fiat, they are to enforce. Fiat is a decree, edict, order command, commandment, proclamation, etc. What I am getting at is that it is not a law passed by legislation but by some politician that feels they know better than we how to live our life. However, they make it profitable to the government.
While I am writing about the government and profit, I want to point out that the folks who are calling on officials to defund the police are not thinking ahead. If there are no local police forces due to the demands to defund them, do you ever wonder who you might call if the miscreant is on the front lawn and heading to your front door?
I guess I don’t have to tell you that first there are a lot of folks that own firearms and think they will respond to any intrusion by pulling out the old AR15. That isn’t going to work. Because the first thing they do after the local constabulary is sent home to their family is to bring in the federal authorities. How will they do this? I’m not sure. It could be that they will bring the FBI then the alcohol, tobacco and firearms guys, then the treasury agents, not to mention the secret service folks.
What I’m saying is the federal government will not allow mayhem. They will step in and hold down the fort. Have you ever heard of the Insurrection Act of 1807?
The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a United States federal law that empowers the President of the United States to deploy U.S. military and federalized National Guard troops within the United States in particular circumstances, such as to suppress civil disorder, insurrection and rebellion. How far away do you think we are at this time? There are folks that are trying for the demonstrators to commit insurrection among the demonstrators in the Mid-West and East Coast.
If you have doubts, let’s see what the local authorities have at their disposal. “Anything that the law enforcement capacity normally does, they could be augmented with National Guard,” Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said at a news conference this week. Asked specifically if they could be used to enforce curfews, General Lengyel did not rule it out, saying governors are able to use their Guard members as they see fit. “As they see fit!” Hmm.
Now you are saying, “What does he know?” You would be correct to doubt me. What I have seen is the loss of 58,220 men and women killed after being sent to a war zone where the commanders had no long-range plans to win the war. It was a waste of 58,220 lost with no plans or ideas why the war was going on. You can look up “The Pentagon Papers.” President Lyndon Johnson used a much doubted incident of being fired upon in the South China Sea to prolong the United States’ involvement in South Vietnam and to begin the bombing of North Vietnam.
Now we have medical experts telling us how long this scourge will be active in the United States. It has already killed more people than died in South Vietnam. Meanwhile, for quite a long time we were led to believe we had it in hand. I think we are seeing another “credibility gap.”
Likewise, as early as 1966, critics of President Johnson’s upbeat portrayals of an increasingly unpopular war pointed to a “credibility gap.” It was defined by then-Sen. Ernest Gruening, D-Alaska, as “a euphemism for what actually goes on — namely, that the American people are being misled by their government officials.”
When you have governors sending active cases of coronavirus to rest homes against the pleadings of local officials, the death toll went up quickly. Meanwhile, I will listen to the leaders and make my plans accordingly.
God Bless.
