Letter to Jason Kenney
During the pandemic I took up the fashionable hobby of complaining about the restrictions and lockdowns the Alberta government has imposed. After trying my hand at it for some months now, I have concluded that complaining is all style and no substance. Sure, it’s catchy, but it doesn’t work properly at all. Until someone figures out how to squeeze some results out of it, I’m ditching the practice. As penance for all the efforts I wasted on a useless fad, I decided to write the following letter to the premier. P.S. If you disagree with my arguments or conclusion, it’s okay :). Feel free to point out to me where I am missing the mark. I would be glad to hear from you.
Dear Premier Kenney,
I know it must be difficult leading Alberta at this time. Thank you for your hard work and devotion to your fellow Albertans.
I am writing as a concerned citizen about the COVID-19 restrictions your government has placed on businesses and gatherings across the province. I have listened to the messages you have delivered to Albertans throughout the pandemic-I trust you have pondered many of the costs associated with the lockdown restrictions before implementing these policies. Because I have confidence in your level-headedness on matters of this sort, I have high hopes you will consider my argument now in favor of Albertans’ freedom to choose.
There are two parts to my argument: First is an effort to account for some of the greatest disadvantages of lockdowns. Second is the simple argument that the optimal solution for Albertans can not be the one which is brought about by government interference but is the one which can be achieved by allowing us the free exercise of our individual agency.
The disadvantages of lockdowns: Obviously, the following list of costs is not exhaustive (nor could we create an exhaustive list if we tried-we can not know in advance all the unintended consequences of wide-sweeping policy). I seek to highlight here a few of the costs I regard to be among the largest, some of which may have been neglected and most of which are difficult to measure. I trust you will weigh them with integrity.
- The dangerous precedent of authoritarianism
I must admit up front, things could be worse on this count if our provincial government were in the hands of those who would unscrupulously wield a far more heavy-handed approach and one less amenable to reason. However, I think you would agree that Albertans should not settle for governance that is merely better than what it could be. Nor do I think the examples of numerous other politicians flocking to the banner of lockdowns are a valid excuse for such policies here.
I count the precedent of authoritarianism being set by your government during the pandemic as the greatest cost of lockdown policies in Alberta.
To answer the question of how much precedent matters, we need only think back to the beginning of the pandemic: Remember how the adjective ‘unprecedented’ was attached to nearly every headline? For many, the lack of precedent was the most terrifying and significant feature of the pandemic.
Well, now we are setting the precedent. We must not set as Alberta’s precedent an automatic forfeiture of our freedom to try to achieve a nebulous medical goal. Over the last year you may have seen a quote by Benjamin Franklin circulating on social media which aptly states: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
I fear your zeal to do good with these restrictive measures in our province is exposing our liberty to great future risk. Consider what Justice Louis D. Brandeis said:
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
2. The erosion of respect for the law and our police
Controlling the province by command means implementing laws that do not have the allegiance of Albertans. The great social scientist Milton Friedman knew that criminalizing behaviour which people do not believe is immoral undermines the laws which bind our society together and erodes respect for those who enforce them. He said:
You can rigidly enforce only those laws that most people believe to be good laws, that is, laws that proscribe actions that they would avoid even in the absence of laws. When laws render illegal actions that many or most people regard as moral and proper, they can be enforced only by brute force.
Frustration and defiance are brewing in the hearts of many normally law-abiding people. At a time of increasing political tensions, we would be wise to be cautious about undoing confidence in our legal institutions. And with the recent spotlight on policing, it is no small cost to pit the upright citizens of our province against our brave public servants who should be our protectors rather than our overseers.
3. The mental health issues of substituting social media for in-person social interaction
Before the pandemic struck it was no secret that social media usage and excessive screen time were associated with depression, anxiety, and a host of other mental health problems. Now, we are too focused on one side of the issue to realize that our efforts to replace in-person interactions with virtual ones are not working. We are plainly driving ourselves insane.
4. The separation of family members and friends
My family is more important to me than anything else, as the families of my fellow Albertans are to them. Families are the most fundamental unit of society. Communities are composed of families and friends.
The cost of imposing legally binding restraining orders for months on families and friends who live in different households is tremendous. It is enormously detrimental to our sense of community. The arbitrary injustices inflicted by insensible rules can turn neighbour against neighbour. The lockdowns strain the social fabric of a public which, to mention again, is already under immense polarizing political forces.
5. Damage to employment, small business, and entrepreneurship
I am confident you know the numbers better than I do on this subject. But I believe the jobless, the poor, those whose lifetime savings have been destroyed, those who have had their creative and productive work nullified, and those who have been repeatedly frustrated as they contort their businesses to comply with new AHS red tape-all these groups of people deserve mentioning.
These are thousands upon thousands of Albertans. The longer these restrictions continue, the fewer of them can afford next month’s rent or mortgage payment and groceries for their families. The more weeks for which the lockdowns stretch on, the greater the number of Albertan entrepreneurs will be whose creative flames are suffocated and extinguished by a lack of economic incentive. Besides these incalculable costs, each additional day these measures are in place we are broadcasting to every job seeker that the only employer who can offer real job security is the Government.
6. The opioid crisis
After the first ten months of 2020, Alberta had already recorded 904 opioid overdose deaths-a number which had us on track to set an annual record for opioid fatalities. These overdose deaths are comparable in number to the total deaths the pandemic has inflicted in our province, and yet our focus seems to have been consumed exclusively by COVID-19’s death toll.
There is good reason to believe that Alberta’s disastrously high number of opioid deaths has much to do with the lockdowns. A study published by JAMA Internal Medicine in December 2019 observed that opioid deaths were 85% higher in counties where auto factories had shut down compared with those where the auto factories had remained open over a period of 17 years. As economic opportunity decreases, opioid deaths increase.
7. The socialization of children
Some of the most heartbreaking costs of lockdowns to consider are those imposed on children. One thing remote-school has taught us is that video-chat technology, as ingenious and valuable as it may be, is no substitute for a child’s in-person education. The same can apply for their socialization.
It does not take a child psychologist to tell you we are stunting the proper development of a generation of little ones by starving them of vital interaction with their peers. Humans are social beings. We are biologically engineered to interact in-person. We should not be so arrogant to think that our technology can properly compensate for synthetic interruptions in the complex processes of socialization, especially during a child’s formative years.
Freedom to choose:
The argument in favor of individual autonomy should begin with our constitution. The truth is, the authors of our constitution enshrined freedom and the rights of the individual not because they are good for mental health, a protection against contagious diseases, or had significant advantages in any other narrow-scoped cost-benefit analysis. They recognized that our freedoms and rights come from God. Those who penned our unifying documents knew that no matter how well-intentioned our leaders may be in their efforts to use the power of government for good, that power should not encroach on our fundamental Creator-bestowed freedoms.
Laying aside the constitutional argument for freedom of choice, there is a straightforward logical argument to be made as well. Left to their own devices, people can choose for themselves what level of risk to which they are willing to be subject. Those who are most afraid of the virus and those who are at the highest risk of serious illness or death will voluntarily limit their contact with others the most strictly. Those who are the least concerned and those who are at lower risk will be less cautious.
A paternalistic government should not decide for us how much risk we can face. Nor can it do so. No matter how much good our government wishes to do us, its domineering actions are sure to expose Albertans to many more risks and costs through the unintended consequences that inevitably follow government action. Show faith in the people of our province. Let us breathe. We can evaluate the risks for ourselves and make our decisions accordingly.
Alberta should not follow what other provinces, states or countries are doing to pitifully limited success. Take courage! -The greatest leaders lead. Let Albertans lead! We can show the others a different way-one that puts complete confidence in individual liberty. That is the Albertan way.
Originally published at https://roughingit.substack.com.
