OPINION

Fear Versus Freedom

Larry O'Connor
Larry O'Connor  |  Oct 06, 2020
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

The reaction to President Trump's discharge from the hospital and return to the White House Monday was mostly predictable except for one odd wrinkle I wasn't expecting.

Prior to his release, President Trump sent out this message on Twitter:

"Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life," the president tweeted. Later in the evening, Trump emphasized the message that we should not live in fear of COVID-19:

"One thing that’s for certain, don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it. You’re going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines all developed recently, and you’re going to beat it. "

This simple message, to not live in fear and let the fear of this virus "dominate" your life was met with remarkable and surprising resistance from the majority of journalists and commentators in the mainstream media and Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden.

Trump was accused of being cavalier and reckless. Of course, later in the video message, he specifically cautioned us to be careful and not be reckless: "Get out there. Be careful. We have the best medicines in the world, and they’re all happened very shortly, and they’re all getting approved. And the vaccines are coming momentarily."

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The message was clear: Live your life, take precautions, don't let the virus dominate you. If you should get the virus, we have developed therapies and knowledge in a very short time that will help you through it.

The survivor rates from the CDC completely back this statement up. You've seen the stats. Broken down by age, it's startling: 99.997% survival rate for 0-19, 99.98% for 20-49, 99.5% for 50-69, 94.6% for 70 and over. 

There is literally nothing irresponsible for a leader to communicate to all of us that we should not be paralyzed by fear over this virus. It made sense in the early days when all we knew was the mess in China and Italy and the man-made mess in New York, but now we know. And knowledge is power.

It's obvious why Trump is projecting this message and these images of strength in the face of adversity. It's what leaders do in times of crisis.

In the Revolutionary War, General George Washington put himself in his finest uniform, sat high on his most glorious steed and made a show of galloping up and down the lines encouraging his troops during battle.

In the deepest moment of the Great Depression (a crisis that claimed far more lives than COVID-19 ever will), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt inspired the nation by telling us, "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."

After the deadliest attack on American soil in our country's history, the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush strode to the pitcher's mound of Yankee Stadium, just miles from the smoldering rubble of the World Trade Center, and threw a perfect strike to signify that he was not afraid and neither should we be.

This is what leaders do. It is what leaders should do.

Contrast that with the reaction from the media:

And contrast Trump's defiance in the face of fearmongering with the message of Joe Biden.

"The only thing I heard was one of the tweets saying that, you know, don't be so concerned about all this, essentially," Biden mistakenly said. "There's a lot to be concerned about. Two hundred and ten million — 210,000 people have died. You have, you know, about 1,000 people a day getting the coronavirus. Fifty thousand, I mean — so it's a great concern."

It's clear what is happening here. President Trump is telling the American people to be careful, but live your lives and don't let the fear of the virus dominate your life. Biden and the media are telling you the opposite.

The bigger question is: Why?

It's obvious, isn't it?

Fear is what allows the government to tell you you can't go to church. Fear allows the government to close the public schools you pay for. Fear allows the government to regulate and control behaviors you would never allow them to control.

If you aren't afraid and don't believe the government will protect you from that thing you aren't afraid of, you will never allow them the power they have snatched in the past few months.

One national politician, President Trump, is trying to wrestle this culture of fear out of our lives and allow us to return to our liberty-loving status. The other, Biden, wants you to continue living in that fear and is indignant that Trump would suggest that you transcend that fear. And the media is clearly on Biden's side.

Do you need anything else spelled out for you as clearly as this?