The "swine flu pandemic," a news story started by Matt Drudge five months ago, is getting some more play this month. It's been an on-again-off-again story of doom since April, when I watched as a newscaster broke in to tell me that someone had a cold and was being quarantined. Five months on, the word "quarantine" is gaining traction:
A "pandemic response bill" currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency, compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance.
If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.
I guess I'll hedge my bets by saying that a flu pandemic is certainly possible, but what kind of flu pandemic? Let's say a relatively harmless three-days-in-bed flu makes the rounds. Will three days of such a flu whip up such a media frenzy that a bill like the one above could be seen as reasonable? And, if that were to happen, would anyone on Capitol Hill say, "Hey, I've got this thing called the constitution. It says something about not being deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law?"
Let's take another look at the US rule book, otherwise known as the constitution (something all of these legislators supposedly swear an oath to). I know, I know, these next three passages look really long and boring, but bear with:
Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment XIV: Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Whenever I hear American politicians say that the state should do something to citizens for the citizen's own good, I often remember some these amendments in the rule book. They are not about what the state should do, but what the state must not do. The constitution isn't there to protect or increase the power of the state, it is there to keep that power in check.
Yet a few sneezes and coughs are enough to give the state of Massachusetts the idea that the constitution isn't worth the paper it is printed on. Searches without warrant. Destruction of private property. Imprisonment - excuse me, "quarantine" - without charge. Home invasion. Each individual case decided by...whom? Ah, but we can worry about that later. Let's just get it on the books: the power.
As for equal protection under the law, sell me another one. If a governor or his mistress gets a cold, do you really think they'll wind up in a cramped hospital ward beside Johnny Public?
As Rahm Emanuel, the president's chief of staff, said about the economic meltdown last year: "Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."
I got it, Rahm, I got it.
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