The COVID-19 pandemic is a divisive issue that somehow, for some odd reason, has split along political lines and has strangely become a political issue. Because of this, people find themselves arguing about the best way to address the pandemic with or without government and politicians. Politicians are capitalizing on this divisive issue, as they always do, to demonize each other and push political agendas that have nothing to do with the control of the spread of the virus.
The issues with the pandemic really just highlight a deeper problem with the philosophy of how people should be governed. We love to break it out into a large spectrum of ideas or a compass of political thought – and that can be useful – but it actually boils down to only two ways of thinking. Either people are mostly evil and do things purposefully to harm others, stupid and unable to understand that they might be harming others, and incapable of making decisions for themselves, or they are mostly good, intelligent, and capable of making the best decisions for themselves.
It boils down to only this binary choice because government is incapable of treating people individually. It cannot treat every person differently. It must treat everyone either as a single mass of people or as groups of collectives. It is absolutely impossible to guess at the needs of people from afar. Unfortunately, there is no in-between, ultimately leaving only two schools of thought.
Currently, politicians have chosen to assume we are all evil and stupid, incapable of making good decisions that affect ourselves and those immediately around us, or intentionally harming others.
This goes way beyond the pandemic.
How do we know when someone has a need for something that is specific to that person? How is it possible for a government to determine that specific need? Currently, politicians have decided to address this by treating people all the same way and averaging a result across various populations. They enforce ideas that they have come up with themselves, without allowing for anyone else to innovate for better solutions.
I personally happen to believe that, most generally, people are not only good and desire to help others, but are also capable of determining their own needs and courses of action that best serve themselves and those around them. In fact, it makes more sense to me that someone close to their own needs and challenges, and to the needs and challenges in their immediate circle, can better innovate and find ways of addressing those challenges than anyone who has never even met that person or been anywhere near them.
The political establishment is incapable of having the proper knowledge to handle pandemic policy. They mostly have no medical background, no scientific background, and no basis for making any decisions about how best to handle a matter of this nature. That belongs with medical professionals and scientists in labs. Not the divisive floors of legislative chambers. Politicians are simply giving their best guesses at what to do with other agendas hiding behind everything.
On the other hand, people are innovative beings, completely capable of determining ways of managing potential contamination in ways that the politicians have never even considered. If you have 1,000 different people trying to solve the same problem, you will get answers that a handful didn’t know existed. Public gathering places and places of business can do these things on their own, and individuals, using their own common judgment and consideration of facts can determine for themselves how they can best socially distance and protect themselves and others. Mask-wearing might have been accepted much more had it not been forced. Business could have continued on while managing the situation better if politicians had not become involved. I would argue that infection rates would actually be lower had politicians not become involved with bad policy decisions.
I’m going to get on my knees and beg here to the politicians: Before you decide to shut down people’s livelihoods and freedoms, do you really want to convey the message to your constituents that they are all evil and stupid? Please consider whether you want to be known as the politician who thinks of all of their constituents as being evil and stupid. And bear in mind, if everyone is both evil and stupid, then you are as well, and all of the people around you are also evil and stupid – your friends and family, the people you trust and love. Or, you could assume people are good and capable. How do you want to view people, and what sort of person do you want to be? Do you want to be evil and stupid, or do you want to be good and capable?
Danny Chabino
Latest posts by Danny Chabino (see all)
- Are People Evil and Stupid? - December 9, 2020
- This Is What Happens When You Politicize an Illness - September 29, 2020
- Want to End Racism? Eliminate Systemic Collectivism - September 8, 2020
