A childish, whining ‘Declaration’ about pandemic restrictions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Idaho Freedom Foundation put up a web page on October 1, 2020 titled Declaration to Idaho Residents and Officials, which also can be downloaded as a .pdf file. It says:

“We, the people of the state of Idaho, reaffirm our solemn commitment to the foundational principles that have made America the greatest country in the world. As noted in our state constitution and restated here, we remain grateful to Almighty God for our freedom.

We recognize that all of us are ‘by nature free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, pursuing happiness and securing safety.’ The fact that a pandemic may or may not be occurring changes nothing about the meaning or intent of the state constitution in the preservation of our inalienable rights.

Despite this, in direct contravention of Idaho’s founding principles, state and local public officials have, for months, denied the people of our state basic and fundamental rights by issuing a long procession of emergency orders and edicts that have denied people freedom of movement, assembly, religion, possession and enjoyment of property, and the pursuit of happiness. This has been allowed to go on for too long.

By this letter, we demand an end to the emergency orders issued by state and local government officials and the restoration of our constitutionally-protected rights. We further resolve that any order issued in the future will be ignored, unless those orders recognize, honor, and uphold, without reservation or equivocation, our God- given rights.”

The second sentence of the first paragraph references the Preamble of our Constitution, which actually says that:

“We, the people of the State of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare do establish this Constitution.”   

 

Then the first sentence of the second paragraph misquotes Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution of the State of Idaho on INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF MAN by leaving out a pair of semicolons. It states:

“All men are by nature free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; pursuing happiness and securing safety.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second sentence of the second paragraph is ridiculous for claiming that “a pandemic may or may not be occurring.” A pandemic definitely is occurring, as shown above by the national and Idaho case counts and deaths at the New York Times web site. The death toll of over 232,000 can best be visualized as almost the capacity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (which holds 257,325 people).  An article by Audrey Dutton and Nicole Blanchard at the Idaho Statesman on November 5, 2020 titled Idaho hospitals are on the brink. Will it take ‘people dying in my ER’ to turn the tides? describes where we actually are as of today.

 

The third paragraph leaves out both “defending life” and “securing safety” – without which all the other cited rights are meaningless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third paragraph also claims that the emergency edicts and orders have “been allowed to go on for too long.” Those orders only will have gone on for too long if, as shown above, they were continued AFTER the case count finally had dropped to zero.  

  

Finally, the second sentence in the fourth paragraph inconsistently switches from a singular “any order” to a plural “those orders.”

 

On October 27, 2020 an accompanying two-minute video titled We the People of Idaho affirm our commitment to freedom was posted on YouTube. That video was discussed by Nicole Blanchard of the Idaho Statesman in an article at the East Idaho News on October 27, 2020 titled Idaho Republicans, including Lt. Gov. McGeachin, decry pandemic measures in new video. Another article by Chris Cillizza at CNN Politics on October 29, 2020 is titled Republican infighting in Idaho over the coronavirus has reached a new low. And yet another article by Andrew Mark Miller at the Washington Examiner on October 30, 2020 is titled Idaho lieutenant governor holds Bible and gun in video protesting coronavirus restrictions on ‘God given rights.’ Mr. Miller ended by incorrectly describing our governor as being Democratic!  

 

The Freedom Foundation should change its name to the Arrogant Idaho Anarchists!

 

An image of a crying girl was adapted from one at Wikimedia Commons.