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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Stathis Papaioannou via extropy-chat<br><br><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Somehow these guys still don’t understand why we don’t give them more authority.<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>>…I know you disagree that masks help, buty the question was not about that, it was about whether you think that public health measures should ever be made mandatory. I thought you were saying that no, even in the event that it would save lives, it would be better to let people die than force them to wear masks.<br clear=all><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal>-- <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Stathis Papaioannou<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK no worries, I see where the discussion diverged. The government cannot force people to wear anything. The Nazis already ended that for all time with the star of David. The Fed can require people to wear mask indoors: I figure whoever owns the building makes the rules, and the Fed can pressure businesses into making that one. OK. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>There is now a Federal mandate to wear masks on Federal property, but there is no actual penalty for not doing so. Reason: they already caught a guy not wearing one after he had signed the mandate. Nothing happened. Same with the California governor: signed the mandate, then demonstrated there is no penalty for ignoring it. So no, the government cannot force anyone to wear a mask. A business owner can for people who come into her building.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Public health measures in general, such as quarantines: those may or may not be enforceable, probably not. We live in times when we are finding we cannot enforce immigration law, anti-rioting law, a lot of basic law. Tricky stuff like quarantines: forget it. California mandated business closures for non-essential businesses, but didn’t actually do anything about it if they declared themselves essential and stayed open.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If the Fed now says do this and that or millions of people will die, we now will not believe them. Its collective credibility went up in smoke with the covid response and will not be easily restored in our time. A few states appear to have done the right thing: Florida for instance. Florida opted for light-handed leadership, which turned out to be superior to California’s heavy-handed approach. Perhaps we will make Gov. DeSantis our next POTUS.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Stathis, pandemics cannot be used to leverage governments into more power. Covid is a crisis that will just go to waste.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>