A Chester County business was threatened by authorities that their business license could be suspended. The criminal action cited involved a plate of eggs over easy, side of hash browns and coffee, or similar short-order fare.
The Chester County Health Department had investigated the restaurant and discovered patrons seated at the counter and at tables, enjoying their meals. The customers were ordered to leave, and the diner received a citation to cease and desist serving food within the dining room.
There was no evidence of public advertisements that the diner was serving food at tables and counters. The windows of the establishment were covered in brown paper. We do not know if the tables were carefully disinfected, servers wore masks, and diners sat apart from each other. Probably this all was done. The diners were likely long-term customers who trusted the management to cook and serve orders as safely as possible within the confines of a privately-owned business. None of this matters to the Chester County authorities. They referenced Governor Wolf’s unconstitutional order to forbid such assembly for business undertakings, no matter how small the gathering or safe the environment. Private citizens are not allowed to take responsibility for their own actions, and a sit-down lunch in a favorite dining spot remains an illegal act.
The most disturbing part of this story is the fact that the authorities would never have known about this small group of people enjoying a meal had they not been called by locals complaining about a situation that could not possibly have affected them personally. Twice, someone called Chester County to demand that this diner stop serving customers behind those brown paper windows.
Why would someone unaffected in any way with a small violation of a questionable government order be so incensed as to complain to authorities to halt operations of a private establishment? The answer is a dangerous motivation to control the lives of others, and to restrict their freedom according to arbitrary rules. The same motivation that impels a person to call the authorities about a local business also drives politicians to create unjust laws and forms the basis of all authoritarian power. Tyrants love snitches. It is this attack on freedoms that creates the need for Libertarian movements. Respect for the right of adults in any society to make decisions for themselves without interference is at the very core of being Libertarian.
The need to suppress the freedom of others is common and dangerous. In his book, Man In The Trap (1967), psychiatrist Elsworth Baker describes these authoritarians as part of an ‘emotional plague.’ People who “make the rules for children’s behavior, put the taboo on sex, write the divorce laws, and make people conform to laws they can tolerate. They are the ones who report nude bathing to police…occasionally the plague breaks out into a pandemic form, such as the Catholic Inquisition of the Middle Ages, or the fascism – red or black – of this century” (pp 159-160)
Libertarians are concerned about the residual government authoritarian effects from the Covid crisis. Once a government takes power at the expense of liberty, it rarely gives it back. We are still living with freedom restrictions created by ‘temporary’ violations of law that resulted from 9/11, such as the Patriot Act. (See our previous post, “Our Microbial 9/11” for more on that subject). We need to do all we can to avoid similar effects from the current situation. The rise of neighborhood tyrants eager to report inconsequential neighborhood infractions is also insidious. This eagerness supports the restriction of personal freedom at the local community level and needs to be resisted by Libertarians and freedom-minded people everywhere.