Recently Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy released a video rant against the ongoing lockdowns. His basic point is that the goalposts have shifted from “flatten the curve” to “find a cure.” Economic suicide in pursuit of this goal is pure insanity. That video went viral.
Dave Portnoy is not a political figure but his anger over the economic crisis and that we have done our best to slow the spread resonates with a lot of people. We have the right to take a risk to survive. One of his questions throughout the video over and over again was “When did this happen?” He is referring to multiple things: flattening the curve, tanking the economy, our livelihood, and our future.
On Tucker Carlson, Andrew Napolitano offered a similar reflection when he described a free state as one that has “laws that uphold personal liberties”, not one that has “laws to uphold what the government wants.” There has been a transition in America the last six weeks that have turned free states into police states.
While COVID-19 is a serious and frightening virus, our leaders seem to not notice the damage it is doing on our economy and the American people. The Democrats and their various plans to protect us all from each other and relieve us of any power at all would turn the entire nation into a police state. How do we reclaim our liberty?
We’ve agreed to the March and April lockdowns as horror stories poured out of Italy. The mood of the American people shifted dramatically. Lockdowns began where threats felt most immediate and swept the nation shortly after. After those two months, we got anxious. Freedom and individual autonomy is embedded in our DNA. The invisible forces in politics have gotten abusive. We have to choose to be free because we are free. Or at least we should be. We consented to the lockdown. We did not consent to the economic suicide and petty local laws that do nothing but baby us to submission. The American people must challenge those violating our constitutional rights. We’ve got to shift the mood again just as we did prior to lockdown.
Expressing opposition will strengthen this mood. Portnoy’s video went viral not only because he’s a popular guy but because he carries a popular message. To those who didn’t want to trust their gut on this one, the video is a good lesson to learn that you can step up and speak out. Everyone carries influence, large or small.
Letting politicians take your freedom away will turn our nation into a police state and that is not what we were founded on. We flourished as land of the free and home of the brave. People took risks. They wanted the American dream. This is not just a political platitude, but a force for freedom. Let this be the new national mood. You go Portnoy.
