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>I'd want really strong evidence and strong reasons to justify government intervention just to push that number a little higher. Why? Look I know we've all he

by scythe 6y ago

>I'd want really strong evidence and strong reasons to justify government intervention just to push that number a little higher. Why? Look I know we've all heard the Friedman quip about temporary government programs, but that refers to normal situations. It's one thing when a program might drop off the political radar and outlast its mandate by decades, but in the case of COVID-19, there is absolutely no way on Earth, at all, that people could just forget that it happened. If the COVID-19 pandemic were a war, it would already rank among the 50 deadliest ever. Our rights are not devalued in the long term by rapid action in a pandemic which, by the best available estimates, could kill over a million Americans if left to run unchecked. They are not devalued in the long term because it is always going to be easy for people to know whether we are experiencing this kind of emergency. The loudest deniers on Facebook are not representative of the population: most Americans do recognize the threat, despite one of the largest disinformation campaigns in human history. So what if there's a small chance we might be too strict about masks? It's not a large injustice, and it's not a slippery slope.

JoshuaDavid 6y ago
> So what if there's a small chance we might be too strict about masks? It's not a large injustice, and it's not a slippery slope. It very strongly depends on exactly how the mask requirement legislation works. If it's "all persons in a public in the state of California must wear a face covering until December 31, 2020. Failure to do so will result in a fine of no more than $150", that's probably fine. People will still complain, somewhat justifiably, that this legislation is safety theater rather than an actually useful law, but in the grand scheme of things it just wouldn't be that big of a deal. However, if it's "any person who knowingly performs an action which endangers the health or well-being of others is subject to a fine of up to $10,000 or 5 years in prison", we now have yet another law that most people are arguably in violation of at least some of the time, which allows bad actors in government to impose enormous pressure to comply with unreasonable or illegal demands under threat of large fines or jail time. I personally worry quite a bit that something more like the second will be passed, and will be very selectively enforced.
- gpanders 6y ago
  The state of New Mexico currently mandates the use of masks while in public with the penalty of a small fine (I forget the exact amount, but it’s only a couple hundred dollars). So in practice, the former is what is already being done. And yes, people do still complain, but as far as I can tell almost everyone complies.

by scythe 6y ago

JoshuaDavid 6y ago

> So what if there's a small chance we might be too strict about masks? It's not a large injustice, and it's not a slippery slope. It very strongly depends on exactly how the mask requirement legislation works. If it's "all persons in a public in the state of California must wear a face covering until December 31, 2020. Failure to do so will result in a fine of no more than $150", that's probably fine. People will still complain, somewhat justifiably, that this legislation is safety theater rather than an actually useful law, but in the grand scheme of things it just wouldn't be that big of a deal. However, if it's "any person who knowingly performs an action which endangers the health or well-being of others is subject to a fine of up to $10,000 or 5 years in prison", we now have yet another law that most people are arguably in violation of at least some of the time, which allows bad actors in government to impose enormous pressure to comply with unreasonable or illegal demands under threat of large fines or jail time. I personally worry quite a bit that something more like the second will be passed, and will be very selectively enforced.

gpanders 6y ago
The state of New Mexico currently mandates the use of masks while in public with the penalty of a small fine (I forget the exact amount, but it’s only a couple hundred dollars). So in practice, the former is what is already being done. And yes, people do still complain, but as far as I can tell almost everyone complies.