May 18, 2020 4 min read

During a recent news conference, Gov. Tom Wolf described his response to the pandemic as a war against COVID-19. Although almost none of us has experienced fighting a pandemic, fighting in a war is something that I am familiar with. In 2005, I was deployed to Afghanistan as an airborne infantry platoon leader and led 40 soldiers during hundreds of missions and dozens of direct-fire battles. No, the enemy was not an invisible virus, but the insurgents we fought were able to blend into the communities we patrolled with ease.

There are enough corollaries for us to understand Wolf’s metaphor, but he certainly misses the mark. The fight against COVID-19 was never about eradicating an invisible virus. We did not shut ourselves off to our friends, family and neighbors to win some war. We did it (as the governor stated) to prevent the overrun of our hospital systems. That mission has been accomplished.

But that is not the point. The point is actually that the governor is fighting the wrong enemy. Americans do not go to war simply to defeat an enemy. We, Americans, go to war to defend our ideals and our way of life. We go to preserve democracy and freedom and liberty. We go to war to liberate the oppressed under authoritarian regimes.

We, the people, of this great state and nation need to be ever more vigilant in our demands of those who lead us. We need to demand that our rights be protected always, but especially during times of crisis. There is a tendency to grasp more power and control during trying times. From the McCarthy hearings during the Red Scare (U.S. Senate hearings accusing multiple citizens of communism without convincing proof) to the response to Sept. 11th (the Patriot Act and spying on American citizens), not many of those in power have been willing to “let a good crisis go to waste.”

This crisis, it seems, is no different. In March, Wolf ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses to shutter their doors, and all citizens to “stay at home.” The governor’s mandate was among the most restrictive orders in the nation limiting many industries that neighboring states allowed, such as construction and auto sales. There was a business waiver program with virtually no consistency and very little transparency.

Many of us are familiar, by now, with the stoplight reopening plan that the governor’s administration has outlined. We have been told that we will move into each progressive stage based on science and data, but the Department of Health has consistently modified the way it reports. Other statistics, such as recoveries, have not been reported at all. There is very little explanation about what it takes to get from one phase to the next.

The administration also closed the doors of the Right-To-Know offices but claim to be operating with complete transparency.

Recently, he announced the formation of the Civilian Coronavirus Corps of Pennsylvania. The corps will be charged with tracking all of the citizens with whom a COVID-positive person may have come in contact and enforcing a 14-day quarantine period. It will consist of at least 1,000 people across the state. It will also be assisted by technology that uses your phone to track your whereabouts. Of course, the technology is said to be voluntary, but, like our mask policy, we could see that change at any time.

And yet, we find ourselves in lockdown. We are criticized by the very government that we, the people, have empowered. We are called “cowards” and “deserters” when we fail to outright dismiss our rights for the “public good.” We are threatened when we choose to question the authority of those making the decisions to restrict our freedom.

Ultimately, my fellow soldiers and I did not go to a faraway land to simply fight a faceless enemy. We did not go to win a war against the “enemy.” No, we went willingly to fight for “certain unalienable rights.” We went for freedom, for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We went for the American way of life.

I fought in Afghanistan to protect our freedoms, and I am certainly prepared to do the same right here in Pennsylvania.

State Rep. Tim O’Neal represents the 48th Legislative District.