If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that principles matter. In 1968 Ezra Taft Benson said, “If principles are correct, then they can be applied to any specific proposal with confidence. Unlike the political opportunist, the true statesman values principle above popularity and works to create popularity for those political principles which are wise and just.”
Had the principles of limited government and individual liberty been espoused by our elected officials last year, we would not have experienced the collateral damage that we did due to the economic lockdown, quarantine, and closure of our schools. Instead, businesses have been permanently closed; jobs lost; and lives damaged through depression, alcoholism, divorce, and suicide. We should never forget that the government is just people – other people to whom we have delegated a small amount of power. Government is not omniscient.
As I have said from the beginning of this Covid fiasco, government should have made us aware of the situation to the best of their knowledge and then at the very most offered suggestions to individuals. Individuals, not government, are best suited to weigh the risks and benefits of activities they engage in. Government’s response to Covid begs the question, “How do any of us survive each day considering the dangers surrounding us? How do we drive vehicles, take proper doses of medications, cross the street, operate power tools, use gas stoves, etc., etc.
Life involves risk, and while none of us desire to live in a bubble, we are each comfortable living with a different amount of risk. That is why some of us scuba dive or bull ride while others lie on a blanket at the beach or sit in the stands at a rodeo.
“We the People ” must reign in our out of control government and insist that our elected officials remain true to the principle of limited government – instituted to secure our rights and protect our individual liberty. Principles matter because without them, our Constitutional foundation is in danger of being eroded every time war, pandemic, famine, or opportunity present themselves.
