Now, in the midst of the pandemic, is a good time to review what we should already have known. There is a difference between human or natural rights and civil rights. Civil rights are rights that are conferred upon us by the government. They are given or taken away by the government as it desires.
Human rights, however, are different. They exist as part of who we are and what it means to be human. They exist whether government chooses to recognize them or not. Human rights are conveyed to us by God as part of what it means to be made in the image of God. A government that chooses not to recognize them, as our Declaration of Independence says, is the definition of tyrannical.
How does this apply in the current crisis? Behind every statement about the quarantine is an assumption: The executive either recognizes that the people under his authority have natural rights or they don't. If a government chooses to curtail human rights, it better have a quick, ready, convincing reason for doing so.
In my mind, an executive who believes in natural rights will explain the crisis with as much evidence as possible, all that he has available.. He will then invite his people to join in the voluntary curtailing of rights until the crisis has passed. The weakness here is that convincing explanations take time. The strength is that people will understand the crisis and the responsibility will remain with the people for the consequences. Consensus may be hard to build, especially in this polarized climate, but you will have the heart of the people as together you work through the aftermath.
It will be easy to spot the executive who does not believe in anything but conditional rights. He will say things like "I have looked at the evidence and I have made the choice to..." In a paternal manner, he will look at the evidence and make the decision on behalf of the people. The people will be left to trust without evidence, and obey without a voice. When the executive moves unilaterally, then he is responsible for the political, economic, social, and legal consequences.
What will happen during the next quarantine? Have we lost human rights in perpetuity? We are paupers if all we have left at the end of the day are arbitrary rights from a short-sighted government.
