Far more fragile than the human immune system is the human liberty system. That is, of all the frightening things that have come our way through the pandemic years, none frightens me more than to witness great swaths not just of the government but of the citizenry embracing the idea that the government ought to be free to tell us all what to do. The first day I ever heard of COVID I was stunned to hear the President announce on national television that he would forbid travel to and from certain countries. More recently I’ve heard a different President go on national television to a. announce which employees of which sized companies must receive an experimental injection and b. that he was losing his patience with trying to persuade people to get the jab and was looking into more persuasive means. I’ve seen the idea floated as serious public policy proposals that the unvaccinated at best be treated by army field hospitals, at worst that they be not treated at all. One need not buy into any conspiracy theory at all to recognize that we’re not in the land of the free anymore.
It was Ben Franklin who quipped, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” We’re prone to think that our ideological commitments are safe when confronted with mild dangers, endangered when faced with extreme challenges. I suspect the opposite is the case. Were the Chinese communists to invade this land I have little doubt that we’d find a nation of heroes here. When a virus invades, on the other hand, we sell out at the first opportunity.
The same is true with respect to our faith. Part of the craftiness of the devil is his astonishing capacity to make us miss what is at stake. Put a gun to the average evangelical’s head and offer this choice, “Renounce Christ or die” and I suspect the vast majority would die. If, on the other hand, we are given this choice, “Embrace the spirit of the age or be embarrassed in front of your neighbors” we more often than not choose poorly.
Our calling is to strengthen the things that remain. We need to cultivate an immunity to social embarrassment. We need to move into the home of the brave if we wish to live in the land of the free. We don’t sell our liberty for security for two reasons. First because liberty is far too precious to be bought with the copper coins and dross of security. Second because those selling security are always out of stock.
I’m once again not taking a stand on vaccines, masks or social distancing. Everyone is free, so far, to do as they wish on those matters. The cultural push, and the cultural putsch that drives it, however, is toward tyranny. Trust not in princes. Find peace in the reign of the Prince of Peace.