Utah Rep. Paul Ray was quoted in a recent Tribune article about COVID restrictions (https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2021/07/26/covid-cases-are-surging/) as saying, “We can’t force people to do something they don’t want to do.” He was talking about getting vaccinated or wearing masks.
But, Rep. Ray, you do this all the time. The Legislature passes laws requiring us to not travel at 100 miles an hour on our highways, even though many of us clearly want to. You, wisely, require we not do that in order not to harm ourselves or others.
What about requiring Utahns to go outside to smoke? This is clearly meant only to protect those around us. Is that a bad law? Depriving citizens of their rights and not allowing them to practice their personal responsibility?
How is COVID any different? Or is it that all these laws meant to mandate behavior to protect others need to be repealed? Is that the ultimate goal? No speed limits, no road signs telling us we can’t drive south in a northbound lane. No protective orders against child abusers. No anti-drug laws. No driver’s licenses. And on and on. All laws meant to protect us from ourselves and from others, gone?
Many among us feel they have a right to take what isn’t theirs. To steal, rape, beat or even kill. Laws of many and ancient kinds are in place to protect others against such behaviors. Do these laws have no place because they do not allow for personal responsibility?
Is all this false equivalence? As someone who is at high risk of death from COVID, I don’t think so. What others around me do puts me at risk of either complete isolation for as long as this killer infection is thriving or of death.
Are we just a bunch of individuals out for ourselves, or are we a community? A state? A country?
A great saying attributed to Ben Franklin goes, “Your liberty ends where my nose begins.” We are free only to the extent that our freedom doesn’t result in harm to others.
Lynn Martinez, Brigham City