COVID Vs. Our Constitutional Rights: Orders or Guidance

To the Editor:

On several occasions in the past I have submitted letters to this publication expressing concern about the seeming attack on our Constitutional rights by government authority. Today, I wish to address this issue with great concern as an alarming trend is unfolding in our nation.

We have for some time now lived under the greatest restrictions ever invoked by our government on a scale unequaled in history. At times, in small areas there may have been declarations of martial law, but nothing of this magnitude has ever happened before. Stay at home orders, business closures, travel restrictions, etc. Now under the circumstances one might believe this is only “common sense prevention”. To which I may be inclined to agree. However it begs to ask: By What Authority?

You see almost all of these restrictions currently in place are violations and infringements of our personal liberties as guaranteed under the Bill of Rights! This poses a unique and very dangerous precedent.. No governor, mayor, administrator, legislative body etc. has the authority under law to enact such restrictions! The United States Government has no power to enact legislation or issue directives that suspend or infringe upon our Constitutional rights…The Constitution and the rights guaranteed in it are the supreme standard of law by which all other law and regulation must conform. 

To be told that you may not gather in groups of more than ten is a fundamental violation of the right to freedom of assembly! For the government to order houses of worship of any faith to close their doors is a direct violation of the Constitution. Who gave the government this power? No one! It does not exist! In many states government officials are dictating to citizens which items they can or cannot purchase in a store. The governor decides what is essential to your needs and what is not! Here in New Jersey, I can don a face mask and walk into a store and purchase anything on the self. In many states you cannot, by government order. I and I alone decide what is essential to my needs, not the government! A friend of mine in Tennessee went to his local WalMart to buy vegetable seeds for his garden, only to be told he was not allowed to buy them because the governor had listed them as non-essential items. Entire aisles were closed off. In Michigan the governor banned the sale of multiple items including paint, American flags, garden hoses and more These governors have no such authority. The vast majority of restrictions which our Government has place on us are illegal. They are as illegal as rape, robbery and murder. Recently in New Jersey a Jewish Rabbi passed away. I believe in Lakewood, 15 people gathered for a funeral. Each person there was charged by police for violation of the governor’s social distancing order. This is unlawful under the Bill of Rights. There is no legal provision anywhere for the enforcement of these orders in any state. Governors do not have the authority to do this.

 While this virus and its effects are very real, the government has taken advantage of the pandemic to usurp authority and impose dictatorship on Americans and we are letting them. America cannot allow this to happen or it will be the “New Normal” we now hear about in the news. Constitutional liberties cannot be ordered or legislated away, suspended or limited by any government official, agency, or body including the U.S. Congress. The Constitution does not allow it. We need to take a serious, long look at what has happened here. This is very dangerous!