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November 20, 2020 10:01 AM UTC

GOP State Rep: Spread COVID This Thanksgiving For Freedom

  • 14 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

As readers know, Gov. Jared Polis and public health officials across the state and nation are begging Americans to avoid multi-household gatherings this Thanksgiving as the COVID-19 pandemic rages unchecked and hospitals fill to capacity much, much too early in the season.

But Republican Rep. Mark Baisley of Douglas County, who you might remember from his embarrassing misinformation about “altered death certificates” in the spring that helped fellow COVIDiots deny the severity of the pandemic, has his own message for HD-39 constituents: Americans have the God-given right to be stupid.

COVID-19 public health compliance officer.

Rep. Baisley perfectly sums up the problem with the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic in just these few paragraphs without realizing it. Yes, Americans have rights to freedom of assembly, and religious freedom. But Gov. Polis is not urging Coloradans to avoid mingling households over Thanksgiving in order to trample their freedoms. It’s about saving lives from a deadly disease that is spreading out of control. Just because one has a right to do a thing does not make it smart to do it wherever and whenever, and if a global pandemic that has killed 250,000 fellow Americans isn’t enough to convince someone to be serious about the safety of themselves and their families, we have no idea what could.

The true penalty for not following the direction of public health experts, like Gov. Polis says invoking the Grim Reaper, will not be administered by the state. Extended families who spread COVID-19 among themselves this Thanksgiving will pay a greater price than anything Polis could possibly do to them for disregarding public health orders. It is not unreasonable to predict that some number of people in HD-39 who agree with their state representative and turn Thanksgiving into a political grandstand against Jared Polis at the cost of common sense will die.

In short, one may be able to argue eloquently in favor of the right to assemble in front of an oncoming train, but respecting that crossing signal makes a lot more sense. Though it’s long been said that “the Constitution is not a suicide pact,” it was perhaps never more true than at this moment.

Here’s a concept: keep your family safe because you want to. Let that moral obligation transcend piffling partisanship.

Comments

14 thoughts on “GOP State Rep: Spread COVID This Thanksgiving For Freedom

  1. The virus gives zero fucks about human freedom, family, tradition, Lincoln, 'murica, the Constitution, etc.  Think like an arrogant human all you want, Rep. Baisley, but the virus is just going to continue to win the battle because it's got a single purpose it carries out with stealthy and sometimes lethal efficiency.  Wave the flag, trumpet grandma's apple pie, extol virtue and light, and the virus will still infect, replicate, and transmit.  Lather, rinse, repeat as the body bags pile up.

    1. Baisley reminds me of that Texan earlier this year; I think it was Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick; who stated it was OK for the elderly and other high risk persons to catch COVID and die so the economy could be reopened (or something like that).

  2. I agree with you that the Constitutional issues raised by this letter probably ought to be overridden by common sense.

    And I would add that it is fair to put aside the interesting questions of whether the legislator is consistent in his regard for Constitutional rights and governmental policing power no matter whether he agrees with the outcome or not. 

    But even a cursory reading of history or court decisions dealing with public health contradicts the broad platitudes of the letter.and the cherry picked quotation from Ex Parte Milligan [1866]. Here's hoping he actually knows better than what is shown in this sentimental letter.

  3. And speaking of the Virus that Dare Not Speak Its Own Name……..

    It looks like Andrew Giuliani has tested positive after attending his dad's legendary press conference.

    https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/20/world/covid-19-coronavirus?type=styln-live-updates&label=virus&index=1&action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage#andrew-giuliani-a-white-house-official-tests-positive-after-attending-a-news-conference-held-by-his-father

    Does anyone know if having your eyes bug out like a meth head on a three-day binge or having watery skid marks roll down the sides of your face while speaking at a presser are symptoms of the virus?

  4. Shows how dishonest the pro-lifers like Baisley are when they treat a fertilized egg as sacrosanct but fully developed post-natal humans who might die from Covid are considered to be expendable..

  5. "The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers"

    Got that one wrong! The Constitution does NOT establish "rulers". The Constitution establishes how those who govern do so with the consent of the governed. Polis governs with the consent of the governed. Republicons want to rule, Dems want to govern with the consent of the governed.

    I find it interesting that Mr. Baisley is concerned about the right to assemble when it involves Covid protections, but remains unconcerned when our right to peaceably assemble is compromised by the persistent threat of mass shooters armed with military style weapons. Can we be free to peaceably assemble in theaters, schools, churches, or any public gathering as long as we rely on an interpretation of the 2nd amendment that suspends time and takes us back to the founding of this country, and before such weapons even existed?  I can forgo one Thanksgiving with family out of Covid concerns, but would prefer to be able to peaceably assemble in the future without having to access where I might take cover if a shooter shows up.

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