The Danger of Emergency Powers: A History Lesson

Below is the second of three reposts in this election season on politics. (The third repost will be on November 1.) The present essay was posted on October 7, 2020, six months after the beginning of what I subsequently labelled covid totalitarianism. I used the terms in seven essays posted in 2021 and ’22.
 
 
Emergency powers, as we have learned in the past six months, are dangerous. Any little tyrant in our local mayoral or gubernatorial office can suspend individual rights at the drop of a hat—or virus—in the name of the emergency.
 
In 1933 Adolf Hitler became dictator of Germany through “emergency powers.” Let’s briefly review how that happened.
 
In 1932 in a round of parliamentary voting, the Nazi Party lost to Paul von Hindenburg, World War I hero and president of the Weimar Republic since 1925. The Nazis, however, won a strong second place. After Hitler withdrew support for Hindenburg a third round of voting in November gave the Nazi Party the largest Reichstag share at 33%. Two prominent politicians and a “letter signed by 22 important representatives of industry” urged Hindenburg (1, 2) to appoint Hitler as chancellor. Hitler immediately gave Hermann Göring a cabinet position in charge of the police, which soon became the State Secret Police, or Gestapo.
 
Emergency powers soon followed. In February 1933 the Reichstag (parliament) building burned, blamed by Göring on the communists, but some historians insist it was started by the Nazis. Hitler then persuaded Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree that eliminated many civil rights, including freedom of speech, press, and assembly, banned the communist party, and allowed detention without trial. (Hindenburg at the time was 85 and said by some to be senile.)
 
In one fell swoop, Hitler acquired dictatorial power. In March, with dissenters surrounded and intimidated by Nazi brownshirts (SA) and protection squad (SS), the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act to give Hitler “temporary” power to rule by emergency decree.
 
For the next sixteen or so months, which included book burnings, purges, and other forms of rioting and “cancel culture,” Hitler remained deferential in public to Hindenburg. After the latter died in August 1934, the chancellor eliminated the presidency, solidifying his dictatorship through the 1934 referendum, achieved similarly to the Reichstag vote with “widespread intimidation.”
 
It was in this manner that Adolf Hitler was elected dictator of Germany.
 
In our present cultural and political atmosphere, news commentator Bill O’Reilly recently wrote that the current Democratic presidential candidate [Joe Biden] “is Paul von Hindenburg in 1932 Germany. An old guy who is malleable.” In 1933 and ’34, Hindenburg’s shaper readily persuaded him to grant emergency powers, paving the way to full dictatorship.
 
Are we there yet? Are we heading down that path?
 
Emergency powers are dangerous and no one, least of all our political leaders, should have them. Individual rights are inviolate and absolute. They should never be suspended, whether the excuse is a pandemic or an insurrection or invasion. There is and can be no justification. This includes the suspension of habeas corpus, which unfortunately is allowed in the US Constitution.
 
In a free society no one has the right to force you to stay home during a pandemic or to force you to wear a hazmat suit (or mask) if you go out into public places. If you are so afraid of getting infected, you should stay home and avoid other people. If we had a society with a sound and stable legal system and you are infected knowingly and willfully by someone, you will likely have legal standing to sue or press charges—and with such a system you can expect most other people, lest they be sued or have charges pressed against them, to mind their manners when sick. A free society means you are free to choose and exercise in action your best judgment. We are all fully capable of doing just that. We ain’t stupid.
 
Emergency powers, even if, or especially when, they are declared to be “temporary,” lead inevitably to expansion of those powers. As in the case of Hitler, there seldom is a retraction or reduction of powers.*
 
Associated sometimes with emergency powers is the notion of martial law. Alan Dershowitz points out that the US Constitution says nothing about either, though, he writes, both were prevalent at the time of the country’s founding. Martial law, he says, is a contradiction in terms, because if the military is brought in, “then it is not law. It is power.” Other definitions have said martial law means the substitution of military for civil law.
 
No form of martial law, however, in a truly free society is ever appropriate. And I don’t believe it has been used in the United States. Whenever the national guard or military has been called out, their use has been to assist the police, to detain the violators of rights who are attacking person and property. In the process their purpose is to restore peace and order. Once the criminal violators are detained, the police can hold them for prosecution and incarceration.
 
Curfew? Aside from being a violation of rights, why? As a practical matter, you capture the law breakers, thereby making the streets safe again.
 
The use of emergency powers, martial law, and curfew are all confessions by politicians that they cannot maintain law and order with their own police.
 
Or, they are smokescreens for the expansion of power to establish a more authoritarian government. As did Hitler!
 
Can it happen here? Are the parallels sound? One-party rule, censorship, big business support and encouragement of dictatorial powers??
 
 
* See Jeffrey Tucker on “Lockdown: The New Totalitarianism.” Some true believers are already salivating over the pandemic lockdowns as dress rehearsal for total state control to enforce “climate change” decrees. Tucker, pointing out that the essence of “lockdownism” is puritanism, quotes none other than Anthony Fauci on the future of pandemic totalitarianism: “Living in greater harmony with nature will require changes in human behavior.” This simple statement is a double whammy: we in solidarity with the rabidly radical and toxic environmentalists apparently will be expected to sacrifice ourselves to trees and rocks and we must in addition transform ourselves into the utopian New Man (of Karl Marx, though the notion predates Marx).

The Danger of Emergency Powers: A History Lesson

Emergency powers, as we have learned in the past six months, are dangerous. Any little tyrant in our local mayoral or gubernatorial office can suspend individual rights at the drop of a hat—or virus—in the name of the emergency.

In 1933 Adolf Hitler became dictator of Germany through “emergency powers.” Let’s briefly review how that happened.

In 1932 in a round of parliamentary voting, the Nazi Party lost to Paul von Hindenburg, World War I hero and president of the Weimar Republic since 1925. The Nazis, however, won a strong second place. After Hitler withdrew support for Hindenburg a third round of voting in November gave the Nazi Party the largest Reichstag share at 33%. Two prominent politicians and a “letter signed by 22 important representatives of industry” urged Hindenburg (1, 2) to appoint Hitler as chancellor. Hitler immediately gave Hermann Göring a cabinet position in charge of the police, which soon became the State Secret Police, or Gestapo.

Emergency powers soon followed. In February 1933 the Reichstag (parliament) building burned, blamed by Göring on the communists, but some historians insist it was started by the Nazis. Hitler then persuaded Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree that eliminated many civil rights, including freedom of speech, press, and assembly, banned the communist party, and allowed detention without trial. (Hindenburg at the time was 85 and said by some to be senile.)

In one fell swoop, Hitler acquired dictatorial power. In March, with dissenters surrounded and intimidated by Nazi brownshirts (SA) and protection squad (SS), the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act to give Hitler “temporary” power to rule by emergency decree.

For the next sixteen or so months, which included book burnings, purges, and other forms of rioting and "cancel culture," Hitler remained deferential in public to Hindenburg. After the latter died in August 1934, the chancellor eliminated the presidency, solidifying his dictatorship through the 1934 referendum, achieved similarly to the Reichstag vote with “widespread intimidation.”

It was in this manner that Adolf Hitler was elected dictator of Germany.

In our present cultural and political atmosphere, news commentator Bill O’Reilly recently wrote that the current Democratic presidential candidate “is Paul von Hindenburg in 1932 Germany. An old guy who is malleable.” In 1933 and ’34, Hindenburg’s shaper readily persuaded him to grant emergency powers, paving the way to full dictatorship.

Are we there yet? Are we heading down that path?

Emergency powers are dangerous and no one, least of all our political leaders, should have them. Individual rights are inviolate and absolute. They should never be suspended, whether the excuse is a pandemic or an insurrection or invasion. There is and can be no justification. This includes the suspension of habeas corpus, which unfortunately is allowed in the US Constitution.

In a free society no one has the right to force you to stay home during a pandemic or to force you to wear a hazmat suit (or mask) if you go out into public places. If you are so afraid of getting infected, you should stay home and avoid other people. If we had a society with a sound and stable legal system and you are infected knowingly and willfully by someone, you will likely have legal standing to sue or press charges—and with such a system you can expect most other people, lest they be sued or have charges pressed against them, to mind their manners when sick. A free society means you are free to choose and exercise in action your best judgment. We are all fully capable of doing just that. We ain’t stupid.

Emergency powers, even if, or especially when, they are declared to be “temporary,” lead inevitably to expansion of those powers. As in the case of Hitler, there seldom is a retraction or reduction of powers.*

Associated sometimes with emergency powers is the notion of martial law. Alan Dershowitz points out that the US Constitution says nothing about either, though, he writes, both were prevalent at the time of the country’s founding. Martial law, he says, is a contradiction in terms, because if the military is brought in, “then it is not law. It is power.” Other definitions have said martial law means the substitution of military for civil law.

No form of martial law, however, in a truly free society is ever appropriate. And I don’t believe it has been used in the United States. Whenever the national guard or military has been called out, their use has been to assist the police, to detain the violators of rights who are attacking person and property. In the process their purpose is to restore peace and order. Once the criminal violators are detained, the police can hold them for prosecution and incarceration.

Curfew? Aside from being a violation of rights, why? As a practical matter, you capture the law breakers, thereby making the streets safe again.

The use of emergency powers, martial law, and curfew are all confessions by politicians that they cannot maintain law and order with their own police.

Or, they are smokescreens for the expansion of power to establish a more authoritarian government. As did Hitler!

Can it happen here? Are the parallels sound? One-party rule, censorship, big business support and encouragement of dictatorial powers??


* See Jeffrey Tucker on “Lockdown: The New Totalitarianism.” Some true believers are already salivating over the pandemic lockdowns as dress rehearsal for total state control to enforce “climate change” decrees. Tucker, pointing out that the essence of “lockdownism” is puritanism, quotes none other than Anthony Fauci on the future of pandemic totalitarianism: “Living in greater harmony with nature will require changes in human behavior.” This simple statement is a double whammy: (1) we in solidarity with the rabidly radical and toxic environmentalists apparently will be expected to sacrifice ourselves to trees and rocks and (2) we must in addition transform ourselves into the utopian New Man (of Karl Marx, though the notion predates Marx).
 

“Rules Are Rules”—the Deep State and Left Are Responsible for Many Coronavirus Deaths

To be sure, many coronavirus deaths in 2020 are due to comorbidities of the elderly in the 80-plus age range. But the failure to test early and abundantly and to rapidly develop and deploy treatments for the virus, not to mention vaccines, falls on the “rules are rules” mentality and seemingly limitless red tape and foot-dragging of the government’s bureaucracy and politicians.

Then, the inherently risk-averse bureaucrats and politicians imposed oppressive measures shutting down the economy and giving leftists, who for decades have wanted and now have gotten, totalitarian control of our entire society.

Economists are too narrow in their description of socialism as “government ownership of the means of production.” The correct description, as we have all experienced recently, is “government ownership and control of us,” of every person, of every person’s desires and behavior.

And to blame our current president for coronavirus deaths is typical leftist, Orwellian propaganda, which by definition and built into their theory is disingenuous.

After enjoying two takeout meals that were in fact as good as their counterparts in the restaurants, I found myself longing for the opening of speakeasy restaurants—in the rebellious spirit Americans have always exhibited, going back to the era of Prohibition and the American Revolution.

I recall a classmate at my university in the late 1960s who stood up in front of a demonstration at the school’s administration building and pumped his fist, shouting leftist slogans for “power to the people” and “it’s time for revolution.” That event made think we were on the verge of a new Bolshevik Revolution.

Well it is time for revolution today—an intellectual revolution to throw off the chains of government and its deep state that enjoys controlling us.

Power to the people—to each one of us as individuals to make our own decisions about how to handle the present situation.

How would a free market in health care have handled this coronavirus “crisis”? John Goodman of the Goodman Institute has answered the question. With no government bureaucracy telling us what we can and cannot do, initial doctor/patient contact would likely be by telephone or internet to rule out serious symptoms.

“In the face of coronavirus indications,” continues Goodman, “a doctor or nurse would arrive at the home (within an hour), take a swab sample and perform a coronavirus test—with results in, say, 10 minutes.”

Patients with serious symptoms would be greeted at the emergency room (no wait, of course) by a team to escort them “to isolated rooms with appropriate equipment and safeguards to protect other patients and hospital personnel.” Personal protection equipment would be abundantly available, if not immediately, then within a matter of days, as entrepreneurs would work around the clock to meet demand, likely including innovative improvements. Panic buying by consumers or providers, assuming there would even be a panic like we are experiencing today, would be discouraged by increased prices.

And, I might add, anyone who wants to know on a regular basis whether or not they have the virus would have access to an inexpensive at-home test. In a free society, anyone who is afraid of being infected would not be prevented from staying home for an extended period.

Fantasy? Only to those who do not understand classical liberalism and laissez-faire capitalism. The projection gives us a goal to strive for and a standard by which to evaluate the present.

Today, we have a “mixed economy,” or rather, as we should more properly call it, a “mixed society of freedom and dictatorship.” The dictatorship part—the massive central planning and price controls—comes from deep state bureaucrats and politicians who mistakenly (or willingly) defer to the medical czars. And the czars think nothing of imprisoning an entire nation because it is, after all, “for our own good” even though the lockdowns impoverish everyone in the process.

Yet we have evidence from other countries—South Korea, Singapore, Honk Kong, and Taiwan—that the shotgun approach to contagion control is not the best path to take. Test and treat precisely, promptly, and extensively (“rifle style,” to complete the metaphor) is what is effective and saves lives. These four countries, it must be admitted, do have severe surveillance techniques in place to make sure the infected don’t wander far from home. Japan, on the other hand, seems to be doing well with face masks, according to Willis Eschenbach. See this on South Korea.

Who is at fault for our pathetic situation today? The deep state Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration, our alleged protectors, both of whom committed a not-at-all funny comedy of errors for six weeks delaying the development and approval of tests and treatments (1, 2, 3). And the pace now of testing and approval of treatments, in April 2020, is still deplorably slow.

And then there are the statistical models that have done as much as the less-than-honest press to fan the flames of panic and uncertainty.

Such models, like their climate cousins, are bundles of assumptions used for forecasting, and those assumptions may or may not be correct. Forecasting just means extrapolating from the recent past to predict the near future. We do it all the time, whether it’s company sales, the local weather next week, or what our spouse or children might do tomorrow and the day after that.*

Predictions of the future can be highly inaccurate. In the case of virus models, they have huge margins of error, which means their creators will be heroes wherever the final number falls. With coronavirus, we don’t even know the denominator, which will no doubt be extremely large, thus reducing the fatality rate  (deaths divided by total cases) possibly to the level of seasonal flu, or lower. (See interview with Jay Bhattacharya.)

Does the word “irresponsible” come to mind when medical czars and front page headlines blast “millions of deaths ahead”?

So how do we handle uncertainty? We each weigh the risks and decide for ourselves. Some of us may like to skydive three times a week. Others may prefer to stay home during a contagion. That is a decision that should be left to each one of us.

Cass Sunstein speaking as a believer in mixed-economy policy states that he has “long been a critic of the precautionary principle, which calls for potentially expensive precautions against bad outcomes in the face of scientific uncertainty.” The “potentially expensive precautions” that he is referring to? Our current bureaucratic decisions, made in a seemingly unaware and unacknowledged manner, of destroying lives and businesses, which the left, of course, viciously characterizes as “just dollars and cents.”

Sunstein’s “precautionary principle” goes by another name, argumentum ad ignorantiam, the logical fallacy called appeal to ignorance. “We don’t know what’s going to happen and you can’t prove that disaster won’t occur! It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

So what if some people get hurt in the process? It’s all for the good of “society.”

God forbid the bureaucrats and politicians would allow each one of us as individuals to decide for ourselves how to handle the uncertainty.

Power to the people! It is time to man the barricades of freedom.


* NOAA Scijinks, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a government agency, has substantial data on weather predictions: 90% accuracy for five days, 80% for seven, and 50% for ten or more days. How many millions of deaths are now being predicted by the climate models? And how soon will Florida be under water? Wasn’t that supposed to happen five years ago??


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