"They Are Only Guidelines Anyway"

The quote in the title of this post, or something close to it, comes from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean." 

The Pirates had a code, but to justify not following it at times, they would say they were only guidelines anyway.

Is that what the federal and state constitutions are, just guidelines? Are they "evolving" documents? No, they are the law of the land, and any other laws, orders, and mandates that violate them are not valid laws. But I digress :-)...

The Federal Government issued guidelines in March 2020 to deal with the spread of COVID-19. They were rightly called guidelines so as arguably not to violate the U.S. Constitution. But whether or not it was the intent, such guidelines did lead to unconstitutional actions by the most of the States. Guidelines may be wise and good, but they do not have to be followed- especially if it violates the constitution and/or could do even more harm to citizens because of an already teetering economy. 

Not only are state and city governments violating the constitution, but many businesses are as well. I'm privileged to be one of the many "essential workers." I haven't been concerned about loss of income or my business for which I am thankful. But do various businesses of various sizes have a right to violate the constitution? It's their business to be sure, but we still live in a Constitutional Republic don't we? Sadly while the specific actions may be new, the all too common "Gun Free Zones" are constitutional violations as well, and even more unwise now during this tragic crisis. Mandatory temperature checks and wearing of masks are still unconstitutional and makes many people wonder if they will try to make a new vaccine for COVID-19 mandatory as well. I sure hope not, and it's crazy that we even have to be concerned about that happening in the good ole US of A.

Look, if you want to wear a mask, go for it, but you don't have to worry about someone who doesn't. If you want to be vaccinated, great, then you don't have to worry about those who don't- not to discount alternative means that the mainstream fear-mongering pro-vaccine media won't talk about. If you want to stay at home and avoid restaurants, parks, weddings and funerals, more power to you, you don't have to worry about those who don't. The Governor from South Dakota correctly echoed our country's founding father(s) that we should not sacrifice liberty for safety constitutionally.

All of this said, and I'm not even really getting too much into inflated COVID-19 numbers, the severity of the virus, whether or not "Shelter in Place" was even the right way to handle COVID-19, trying to get people to snitch on others and tracking with drones and other means, lives being in much more danger due what this is doing to our already weak economy, and more. 

Issue guidelines, make recommendations, advertise, etc. But mandates that we're already seeing are unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution was put together by the United "States" to restrict the Federal Government not citizens. If the Federal Government violates it, the individual states are to resist and nullify. If various States violate it, then the Federal Government is to intervene to protect her citizens. If corporations violate it, then the State(s) they operate in first, then the Federal Government if the State doesn't act, should intervene to protect citizens' constitutional rights.

Let's everyone get back to work before there is more severe permanent damage to our economy. 

'Nuff said in this post :-). Please consider and share.

~ Pester Brat ~