Fairfax County, Virginia Park Authority flexed its muscles today by closing public parks. It was following guidance from the Board of Supervisors, who voted 9-1 last week against allowing “nonessential” activities to resume. Pat Herrity, the only Republican on the Board, voted courageously to reopen.
Closing Public Parks is Essential – Unlike Attending Church, or Working
The “nonessential” activities denied us include attending church, making a living, and taking kids to play in the park. Clearly, however, the essential activities include taking swings off their sets, erecting fences around playgrounds, and taking away picnic tables. I know that because those things were done just today, when only essential activities are allowed.
DHS biodefense lab tests determined “sunlight on plastic will inactivate the virus very quickly.”
Officially, Fairfax County closed the public parks a couple of months ago, but for two months that’s been honored in the breach: visitors tore down the signs, and park officials let them be. But as the rest of the state is opening up, the Parks Authority decided it was time to clamp down. It is especially ironic since the CDC just announced that the virus “does not spread easily from touching contaminated surfaces.”
Park employees removed swings from their frame “to ensure safety.”
Closing public parks was already an affront to common sense. Researchers assure us that the virus does not survive in sunlight. Vitamin D, which our bodies produce naturally when exposed to the sun’s radiation, prevents infections. Two weeks ago NBC reported that DHS biodefense lab tests determined “sunlight on plastic will inactivate the virus very quickly.” Even 100 years ago, during the Spanish flu, sunlight was known to mitigate coronavirus infections. Hospitals of the time set up flu wards outside, so patients could be exposed to the sun during the day.
This is not just a local matter: it is the local outbreak of a national disease. In California, even in Orange County, park authorities have shrink-wrapped slides, swings, and other recreational equipment. In San Clemente, the county dumped 37 tons of sand into their famous skate park. Were skater boys jumping rails within six feet of each other? In a show of resistance, dirt bikers came and rode all over the filled-in park, and then spent days helping the skaters shovel out the sand.
California counties shrink-wrapped their playground equipment, as part of closing public parks
Democrat governors and mayors in coastal states are forbidding beach outings. Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti infamously allowed public use of wet sand, but not dry sand or the water. He threatened that police would pull any defiant swimmers out of the water and arrest them. Similar reports are surfacing all over the country.
It’s Not About Parks – It’s A Creeping Assault on Liberty
There is only one conceivable reason for closing public parks or recreational facilities. It is not to allow employees to quarantine at home: they are present to evict citizens, dump sand, or disable equipment paid for with public funds. It certainly is not to prevent the spread of infection.
The only reason to deprive free citizens of facilities built and maintained by their tax dollars is to accustom them to being deprived of liberty.
The only reason to deprive free citizens of facilities built and maintained by their tax dollars is to accustom them to being deprived of liberty. When small things are taken from us, reasonable people say “it’s unreasonable to fight over trifles.” But if we allow small confiscations, soon the government will seize greater liberties, and we will be unable to resist, having fallen out of the habit of defending our rights.
Mark Young, co-host (with Chuck Woolery) of the Blunt Force Truth podcast, tweeted: “Pay attention people, the Left is conditioning you to take their commands by depriving you of your rights and liberty a little more each day.”
Will we continue to let dishonest political plotters tell us that our jobs, our livelihoods, and our family dynamics are not essential?
But will we allow ourselves to be conditioned? Will we continue to allow elected officials to behave like rulers, instead of public servants? Will we take their judgment to be superior to our own? And will we continue to let dishonest political plotters tell us that our jobs, our livelihoods, and our family dynamics are not essential?
God Forbid. Act like free citizens, not subjects. The blood of heroes was not shed so petty bureaucrats could grab political power by closing public parks, or depriving 36 million Americans of their jobs. #ReOpenAmericaNow.
