Politicians Are Still Avoiding The Importance Of Improving Physical Health & Individual Responsibility

It seems the last thing those in power want to do is talk about things individuals can actually control themselves, and want people to instead seek an outside power to divide us and punish others.

For over a year, it has been well-known that obesity is the second highest risk factor for negative COVID outcomes, after age.

And since age can’t be controlled, but obesity can, that made obesity the number one controllable factor.

If all the politicians and public officials were really about ‘saving lives,’ why haven’t they mentioned this?

Why has it seemingly been a taboo topic?

And why, even as a larger portion of the population is vaccinated and deaths from COVID have declined, are we still not hearing anything about the importance of physical resilience and individual responsibility for health?

At every turn, it seems the political and media elites have chosen to seek control over the lives of others, rather than take responsibility for themselves.

Consider what Scott Gilmore – Catherine McKenna’s husband – wrote in Macleans:

“Just as we began to think the COVID pandemic was coming to an end, a fourth wave has arrived, due almost entirely to the unvaccinated. As a result, restrictions are coming back, masks are returning, and our short precious summer looks like it may become even shorter yet.

Even those of us who fully vaccinated are being forced to mask back up. This is because we have now learned that the new and deadly Delta variant can still be carried and transmitted by the immunized.

The most popular strategy adopted by various levels of government in Canada has been to deploy a combination of information and rewards to encourage vaccination. This has worked well so far. In fact, as of this week Canada’s vaccination rate is the highest among G7 countries.

But this carrot approach appears to be reaching its limit. Our daily vaccination rate is dropping off a cliff. We are now administering 1/3 the number of doses per day compared to a month ago. Those who remain unvaccinated will not be lured into line. We need a stick.”

In the article, Gilmore refers to unvaccinated Canadians as “toddlers,” using the same parent-child frame that (with government as the parent of course) that statists love to use in order ‘justify’ their attempts to control others:

“Canada has arrived at this moment, and the toddlers in question are the approximately 20 per cent of Canadians who have yet to get even one dose of a vaccine.”

The arrogance and condescension from Gilmore towards those who chose to get unvaccinated is obvious.

What happened to personal responsibility?

The attitude expressed by Gilmore is one that has been expressed by many people as of late, including some politicians.

This is an attitude that involves people completely giving away their personal agency and personal power, and instead demanding that the government tell other people what to do so they can feel ‘safe.’

If people feel the need to protect themselves from COVID, they can choose to get vaccinated, they can continue wearing masks when they choose, and they can stay away from events that make them uncomfortable.

As I’ve noted, I have been vaccinated, and respect those who make that choice and those who choose not to get vaccinated.

That’s the whole point: Choice.

In a free country, people are supposed to have the freedom to make their own choices, and while we don’t have to agree with what others choose, the government must step back and respect individual action and individual rights.

Those individual rights also mean people are responsible for themselves, and freedom & responsibility are inextricably linked.

But a society where people believe in personal responsibility is a difficult society to control, and that scared statist politicians.

They want people who are afraid, who demand the government make them feel safe, because that leads to the rising power and authority that statist politicians crave.

Note how Gilmore talks about the approach ‘working in Europe,’ referencing France’s draconian restrictions:

“To begin with, now that the vast majority of Canadians are vaccinated, we should close the airport gates to those who aren’t. If you want to fly, you need a vaccine. A form of this already exists in some places—if you want to board a flight to northern Manitoba, for example. The same rules should be applied to trains, concerts, even restaurants. We could even go so far as to impose it as a requirement for interprovincial travel.

This approach is already working in Europe. When French President Emmanuel Macron announced vaccine passes would be required to enter restaurants, hospitals, shopping centers or to take a train, 2.2 million new appointments were booked within the following 48 hours. In Italy, 5 hour long lines formed immediately after similar restrictions were announced.”

This is incredibly authoritarian, and Macron’s actions in France generated a huge backlash and massive protests.

Rather than take responsibility for himself, Gilmore wants to give the government even more power to punish and control other people.

This lines up exactly with what I wrote in a previous column, about The More Canada Abandons Personal Responsibility, The More Authoritarian Our Government Becomes”:

“A citizenry that abandons personal responsibility becomes increasingly abrasive and angry, always casting about for others to blame, while demanding further and further government power. At some point, a country ends up with a passive, submissive population unable to really innovate or muster up any sort of voluntary cooperation.”

Just look at the response to Alberta announcing that they would be returning to normal, tons of politicians and even members of the public protested the lifting of restrictions, in effect protesting against the government by demanding the government further restrict their rights and freedoms.

An effort to control, rather than empower

All of this tells us that many politicians, public officials, and members of the establishment press are unwilling to let go of this ‘opportunity’ to entrench state power at the expense of individual rights. That’s why they avoid talking about what individuals can do to become healthier, because that would be empowering people to take control and responsibility over their own lives.

Instead, they seek to control through fear, through spreading anger and division between the vaccinated and unvaccinated, and through proposing government power as the answer to every problem.

The best way we can push back against this dangerous trend is to be responsible for ourselves, seek to empower others rather than control them, and push back every time we see a politician or establishment media figure try to manipulate others into giving up their own freedom.

Spencer Fernando

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