OP-ED: They are from the government, and they are no help
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Ronald Reagan called these nine words the most terrifying in the English language. During this pandemic, we have continuously heard these words, and Reagan’s suspicion has been confirmed. At the state level, we have seen failures of dramatic proportions.
They told us that unemployment compensation would take care of those forced out of work due to the governor’s business closure order. Many still have not received their checks. They told us small businesses would be taken care of, but with no demand there is no business.
Now they tell us that those businesses that move to reopen (without the governor’s blessing) so that they can feed their families and provide goods and services safely will be punished. He called these friends and neighbors of ours “cowards” and “deserters.”
They told us they were going to protect the most vulnerable. But the Department of Health issued guidelines that mandated nursing home patients who went to the hospital to return to the nursing home, even if they tested positive for COVID. In the prisons, they took an opposite approach, allowing for vulnerable prisoners to leave and instituting universal testing for everyone else. No such help was offered to nursing home facilities or even the general public.
Now they are telling us that in order to protect ourselves in the future, the answer is giving the government more power in the form of a “Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps.” This is the proposal on solving problems from this administration: more government, regardless of how dramatically the government has failed during the past few months.
This is not to say the government has no role in combating this virus. We should and must be directing more resources for elder and senior care, ensuring our facilities have appropriate equipment, guidelines and support in case of another outbreak. We should and must provide accountability and transparency for our seniors and their families. This is the agenda the House Republican Caucus is working on in Harrisburg.
We know who this virus harms, we know what facilities are most susceptible, and we must fix those problems, including the ones within the Department of Health. But the idea that giving more power to the government as a solution after what we have seen in the last two months is unconscionable.
If we are going to continue as a society with recognition of inalienable rights, those rights must be able to endure a pandemic. This is true for two reasons. First, we as humans thrive when liberty is embraced, even in a pandemic. Second, regardless of all the comforting rhetoric and “what if” threats, government is not capable of truly protecting us.
If we choose more government control in response to this pandemic, we will be choosing the same government that could not deliver basic unemployment compensation. The same government that changed vague policy guidelines continuously, failed our seniors and lacked oversight. The same government that arbitrarily picked winners and losers in the marketplace, calling some essential and others non-essential.
There are things government can do: win a war, provide a safety net, and prosecute crime, even if they are far from perfect in performing these tasks. But controlling every aspect of our lives – even for a short time – is not something government can or should do.
If we choose to give this government more power and move another step toward a more authoritative system of governance, the virus of big government will be far deadlier than any pandemic.
The fact of the matter is this: They are from the government, and they are no help.
State Rep. Joshua Kail is a Republican and represents the 15th Legislative District, which includes parts of Beaver and Washington counties.