Is it a free country if you cannot say what you want, go where you want, when you want, eat what you want, choose to cover your face or not?
This is the United States of America, not the Soviet Union or the Communist Republic of China. I hate that Covid-19 happened. I feel compassion for the people that died.
At the same time, the media has cashed in on our fear. They have jobs where they can hide. Some of us have no choice but to go out in the world, because we have to.
Is this a free country? Are NBC and CNN the National Broadcast of Communism and the Communist News Network?
No, your being stupid. If I told you people with Tuberculosis have a right to infect you with the disease, you'd lose your mind and hide at home, wearing mask 24/7. We have a PANDEMIC circling the earth, right now. If you won't help stop it, you might die from it. So it all comes down to everyone doing what is best for us all. If enemy planes were bombing US cities, there would be curfews and restrictions on lots of things until the bombing was stopped. To protect as many lives as possible. There is no difference in a war against an enemy country or a nasty new virus. We all have to do our part, even if we don't want to, so we can win the war.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
US Constitutional law and Supreme Court precedent (FROM 1905):
“The Constitution does not import an absolute right in each person to be, at all times and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint.” Instead, “a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic.” Its members “may at times, under the pressure of great dangers, be subjected to such restraint, to be enforced by reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may demand.”-
Yes. We need laws. During a pandemic, we need special laws. You know the national hymn? America the beautiful? There is a line in it: "Confirm thy soul, in self control, thy liberty in law". I think one meaning of is that though we are free, we need laws. Any society needs laws. Laws are for our benefit. You can't just do what you want, if what you want to do hurts other people. Not wearing a mask during a pandemic hurts other people.