If 2020 has shown us one thing, it’s shown us just how much freedom we truly do not have. Across the country, people are being fined, harassed, and even jailed over the controversial mask mandate. While some people hold to it as law, this is actually far from the reality. However, it is being enforced as though it were law nonetheless.  This brings us to Maryland, where a Hughesville resident was arrested for throwing a bonfire party.

As we all are clearly aware, the Governors of various states have enacted a questionable order that prevents gatherings of more than 10 people, for some residents, the government infringing into what they do in their private life, was a simple “no way.” On March 22nd, officers were called to the home of Shawn Marshall Myers. Myers was having a bonfire party with 60 people in attendance. While that violated what the governor stated, it is also a good time to note that this order is not law, nor does the government, under the constitution, have the ability to infringe into the lives of citizens in this manner; apparently, Myers wasn’t going to allow it.

Upon arriving, Myers began to argue with the police, which would be a logical course of action being that they were trespassing onto his land with no legal grounds. During this argument, Myers informed the police that they had every legal right to gather, which would be a correct and factual statement. However, the police didn’t agree. As a result of violating the “emergency” order, a judge sentenced Myers to a year in jail. While this is a very questionable reason to send a person to jail, this isn’t directly what we’re going to discuss.

According to the attorney, Myers was sent to jail for the “safety” of the community. The contradiction should be easily spotted, but if it’s not, let me point it out. Their idea of “safety” is to place a person in an enclosed area with more than 60 people, who may actually be carrying this virus. This arrest also brings concerns regarding our civil liberties as citizens and how the government has spent 2020 stampeding them into the ground. Of course, this is something we’ve previously covered.

One of the things that has become so controversial with this mandate is in how it’s enforced. While public areas are one thing, this party wasn’t in the public domain. This man was literally arrested, on his private property, an area that this mandate should have no merit of enforcement. It is due to the behaviors of both, law enforcement and government, that our platform is very skeptical of this mandate. Since the time of its initial announcement, we have seen other forms of constitutional violations. Religious centers, schools, and even privately owned businesses forced into shutting their doors all in the name of government compliance.

This specific arrest isn’t the first mandate related one and I doubt it will be the last. As people become exceedingly more fed up with the nonsense of our political figures, I can see more mandate resistance within our future. Arresting this man, and others of the past, isn’t about public safety. It is only serving to spread one message: “You will conform and obey, or you will be removed.” If this sounds a bit familiar, that is because this tactic has been utilized before. It was a similar tactic used by infamous leaders, Adolf Hitler and Stalin, who believed that the best way to gain power was by subduing the people. Up until their downfalls, it was a highly effective tactic as the people never saw what was happening until it was to late.

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