Lockdowns likened to post-9/11 assaults on freedom

Last week, a rather well-written op-ed by Samuel Miller McDonald appeared in Britain's Guardian newspaper...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/23/coronavirus-civil-liberties-authoritarian-measures

I can't find this op-ed in any American paper. Few American media outlets or websites would dare print anything that criticizes the lockdowns.

The author talks about how 9/11 was followed by the Patriot Act and deadly wars. He talks about how the late 2000s recession led to taxpayer dollars being transferred to wasteful Wall Street execs and companies. He mentions that environmental ruin has helped fuel conservavirus.

The authoritarian response to the virus is likened to actions taken after 9/11 and the recession. The Trump regime is launching a bailout of Big Oil, and lockdowns endanger basic civil liberties. "Emergency" measures that infringe on freedom are rarely reversed. In fact, they often expand.

"Seeing self-avowed leftists and liberals praising such draconian reactions is frightening," the author writes. Don't worry. Nobody on this blog supports lockdowns. I don't know any "leftists and liberals" who do. Then again, I can't ask them, because I haven't been able to see them, as they're bullied into not leaving their home. The author goes on to say, "We must reject such authoritarian measures wholly."

The writer suggests ways to fight the conservavirus crisis. One way is for the government to provide a universal basic income to every person in America to remedy job losses. Another is to enact universal healthcare - not just for during the crisis, but after. Another is to nationalize utilities, and another is to limit actions like foreclosures. Still another is to reform the criminal justice system, and another is to loosen intellectual property laws to allow distribution of the drugs to fight this virus.

Do we want a right-wing police state, or do we want forward-thinking ideas that work?