There's a pervasive idea among the American (and global) population that "simple" compliance with authority will yield the best results. People think that if they follow mandates issued by the government that eventually their lives will return to normal. They will even become hostile and violent toward others who are not complying quickly enough.
Even if your life returns to what it was before the pandemic (which there is little evidence to show that will happen, even after more than a year of compliance), the thick stench of tyranny does not wash away. Your life may eventually return to "normal", but not because of a voluntary community effort, but because those you've given power to allowed it to return to normal. There's a chance you may get the results you seek through compliance, but the tyranny remains.
Power is an interesting phenomenon. It does not exist independent from obedience. A man issuing orders does not possess power until those orders are followed, and only when they are followed does the man wield power. If the orders are not followed, the power ceases to exist.
In 1918, Czar Nicholas II learned this to be true when he was driven out of the Winter Palace by the Russian people and, with his entire family, subsequently murdered in exile, bringing the 300-year-old Romanov Dynasty to a bloody end.
Compliance with tyranny only strengthens the tyrants. Even in the event of a "national emergency", compliance with tyranny is fundamentally disastrous to the foundation of liberty. How many "national emergencies" are we away from living in an absolute totalitarian dystopia?
This may sound extreme to the average onlooker, but the principles of liberty must be upheld, at all times, otherwise it will be lost to the bottomless pit of authoritarianism forever. It's extremely important to defend liberty for our generation, and generations to come. It was long fought for, and it is our duty to continue that fight.
Tyranny needs constant resistance. You cannot comply your way out of it.
