Do governments work for the people, or do the people live at the whim of governments? It's an important question to ask:
Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said Friday that the country will go into a national lockdown to contain a fourth wave of coronavirus cases.
Schallenberg said the lockdown will start Monday and initially last for 10 days. Most stores will close, and cultural events will be canceled...
Starting on Feb. 1, the country will also make vaccinations mandatory, public broadcaster ORF reported.
A political conservative will answer my question one way, a lib will answer it the opposite way.
It goes deeper. Why do liberals and conservatives answer this question differently?
ReplyDeleteI believe, it is because liberals believe in utopian ideals: that society can be perfected, and all those "other" people can be brought to grace by the authority of the state (run by people like them, of course).
Conservatives--whether religious or not--believe people are fallen, can not be perfected, and that government exists, not to bring people to grace, but to provide a structure to society and to make sure we don't kill each other.
I am not a "lib". I am an independent. While I am generally inclined to support the "my body, my choice" argument, I do see a problem here. Austria is literally out of ICU beds. Dealing with this shortage is incredibly hard. The equipment found in an ICU unit is expensive and time consuming to manufacture. Even more critical is the lack of trained people to staff these units. It takes years to acquire that kind of expertise. What do you suggest they do? Should people who need ICU care because of covid, a heart attack, or a car accident just be left to die?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: it is not the function of government to lock people in their homes.
ReplyDeleteIf you fear the rona, or anything else for that matter, *you* stay home. But to require everyone in an entire country to do so? Gawd, how many totalitarians throughout history have dreamed of having *that* much power?
For what it's worth, grocery stores, post offices, train station, airports, and schools will remain open in Austria. Quarantines, including those that require people to stay home go back to biblical times.
ReplyDeleteI generally agree with you, but I am a rationalist. You still haven't answered my question. A hospital has one or two ICU units left. Ten people need intensive care. Who gets treatment, and who is left to die?
You would think that with Austria's decent vaccination rate (about 65%) would be preventing this kind of problem.
ReplyDeleteUnless the vaccine is making matters worse.
So Darren, is it your philosophy that those with contagious diseases should circulate freely in public? i.e. Let God's Will Be Done thru his Angels of Death?
ReplyDeleteYou may be surprised to learn, lgm, that it's already the law in California:
ReplyDeletehttps://i0.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2021/11/Disclosures.jpg?w=500&ssl=1
Why is 'rona the only "contagious disease" that we fear so much that we lock up everyone--a policy, I might add, that has already failed miserably everywhere it's been tried. Despite that, I'd be more willing to accept your argument if those of us who *don't* have contagious diseases were allowed to circulate freely in public.
Its the law here too. I'm not seeing the unvaxxed curtail their activities or have a shred of publicly expressed remorse that they brought Death to some of their clients and neighbors. The ex-Gov here attempted to intervene with that re: the largest three unvaxxed groups in the state and got exactly nowhere.
ReplyDeleteHere we were able to circulate freely in May 2021. Most folks masked right up as soon as a member of one of the unvaxxed groups came in the building. Masking came back about nine weeks later as the spread was significant and the ICUs started filling up again w/both vaxxed and unvaxxed patients of all ages. The goal of masking is to protect the vulnerable from dying by reducing the spread. Masking does not work if the mask is low quality or worn incorrectly.