Wouldn't it have been nice if families (ordinary families not connected to the ruling class) would have been able to make that decision for themselves last Thanksgiving without having to worry about the gestapo coming in and arresting them?
There's a stark contrast (in terms of externalities) between "small group of fully vaccinated people hanging out" vs. "let's have a huge family gathering with 20 people when very little natural immunity exists"
Obviously, virtually every freedom we have comes with a certain level of potential externalities... but certain ones we accept, and other we try to mitigate for.
And that decision is largely based on potential impact to others.
For instance, if we let people drive drunk and said "well, let's just let everyone make their own decision about whether or not they want to assume the risks associated with getting on the road", you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would think that was an acceptable standard.
For the record, I think a lot of the lockdown measures did go too far, and actually voiced my opinion here on CF that I think Ron DeSantis's choice to go "full re-open" wasn't such a bad thing given the culture and climate of his state.
The real irony I see behind this is that many in the camp of "there should be no measures at all, just let people make their own choices and assume their own risks...if other people are worried about impacts to them, then they can be the ones to stay home"...are the same ones in the camp that vehemently oppose a myriad of other things (and want the government to back them up with force) on the grounds of externalities.
For instance, the people who were bent out of shape about the trans-bathroom situation...given your position on Covid restrictions, safe to assume you'd set them straight and tell them "well, if you're that worried about the negligible risk of a person trying to assault a female family member in the bathroom, then you should just stay home or avoid going to the bathroom at the store"?
Or with marijuana, would you tell the opponents of legal marijuana "well, if you're that afraid of a person smoking a joint and going ballistic, then just stay home and let other people assume whatever risks they want to take"?
