Imagine a world where a governor controls your every move, choice, right, and liberty. While this may sound like a plot from a George Orwell dystopian novel, it’s happening now under the guise of “public safety.”
Recently, the Uniform Law Commission, a powerful organization responsible for several radical proposals over the past century, introduced a new model bill — the Public Health Emergency Authority Act. The commission proposed the legislation in response to what they called the “unpreparedness” of federal and local authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ULC claims the model bill would improve states’ preparedness for public health emergencies by clarifying “the powers of a Governor to declare a public-health emergency and to issue orders in response to that emergency.”
The biggest problem with the PHEAA is that it would grant governors unprecedented and unchecked powers without oversight from state legislatures.
This model bill would give governors the power to declare public health emergencies within their states without any oversight from the state legislature. So what qualifies as a public health emergency? According to the model bill’s language, it could range from an infectious disease to a chemical spill that might cause “a significant risk of substantial harm” to the state’s population. Clear as mud, right? With such vague guidelines, how do we know if a governor’s emergency declaration is based on a genuine threat or simply an overreaction to the latest Netflix documentary?
Even more concerning, the PHEAA would allow governors to declare and implement public health emergencies based on “the little information that is then available,” including the premise of an “unknown disease.”
In other words, governors could use minimal information to enact unilateral measures such as business and school closures, surveillance, quarantine, testing, suspension of statutes, or other rules and gain access to electronic security systems through work, school, general notifications, and more.
Once a public health emergency is declared, the PHEAA allows governors to renew the emergency declaration as often as they see fit. The bill explicitly states, “There is no limit on the number of times the Governor may renew an initial or previously renewed declaration of a public-health emergency that has not expired.” So if you’re hoping for a break from a “temporary” dictatorship, don’t count on it.
The biggest problem with the PHEAA is that it would grant governors unprecedented and unchecked powers without oversight from state legislatures. Additionally, the bill would let governors seize resources and property, restrict individuals’ movement, and cull animal populations, among other plainly authoritarian measures.
You may recall the “Sister Revolutions” that took place in America and France during the late 18th century. While the American Revolution was founded on a virtuous desire to secure religious freedom and sovereignty from an unaccountable monarchy, the French Revolution aimed to abolish all past truths in the name of “science” and “reason.”
Unlike its American counterpart, the French Revolution eventually devolved into mass violence, hysteria, corruption, and intrigue under the Committee for Public Safety. Empowering governors to become temporary tyrants may provide some Americans with a sense of security, but it tramples upon the God-given rights that all Americans are entitled to under the Constitution.
If we surrender our fundamental liberties so easily, what else will we sacrifice to the radical leaders of our time? Ironically, Benjamin Franklin foresaw this, warning, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
The PHEAA may offer a fleeting sense of security, but is it worth sacrificing our essential liberties? Not a chance.
Opinion & analysis