Horowitz: It’s time for governments to apologize for COVID response

As we all watch the horrific images of the Chinese communists torturing their people in Shanghai over a virus, can we really take solace in the hope that it won’t happen here? The first step in repenting for sin is acknowledging that one has committed the sin, apologizing for it, and resolving to establish moral and intellectual barriers around the iniquity, preventing it from being repeated. Yet despite the devastating consequences of lockdown, masks, and mRNA gene therapy laid bare before our eyes, no major body of government has apologized for the “mistake,” much less committed to legally preventing it from happening again.

Colorado state Rep. Stephanie Luck wants to change that by apologizing to state residents for mistakes made during COVID. She introduced (HJR22-1022) Resolution, which asks for forgiveness from Colorado citizens whose lives were impacted due to the COVID-19 restrictions placed on them by Colorado lawmakers.

Specifically, the resolution indicts the government for creating social isolation for seniors, delayed medical care, missed life events for families, masking of children, impediment of educational attainment and language development, and the destruction of businesses and infringement upon religious worship.

“From these mitigation efforts, many Coloradans have endured significant impacts to education, including the disparate impact to students' progress; the cancellation of important and often once-in-a-lifetime student activities such as prom, sports, and other state tournaments; the impact to students, parents, teachers, and administrators from requirements of remote learning; and the overall disruption to students, professors, and other professionals studying, teaching, and supporting students at institutions of higher education.”

Indeed, the refusal of state governments to apologize for shutting down schools and masking children is the most shocking of all. From day one, the colossal damage from these policies was self-evident, while the benefit was clearly lacking and unnecessary given the low risk of coronavirus to children.

A new study from Brown University economics professor Emily Oster shows a strong correlation between the amount of time states suspended in-person instruction and decline in pass rates for math and English. For example, Virginia, which averaged in-person instruction for only 9.7% of the school year last year – the lowest of the 11 states – experienced a 34% decrease in pass rates of math courses. Wyoming, on the other hand, experienced just a 3.7% decline in passage rates after being open for in-person instruction 86.5% of the school year. The generational damage of the school closures will be with us for years to come.

How could governments not issue a formal apology and promise never to do this again? How can we go on with our lives and pretend like this never happened?

The resolution goes on to indict the state medical board for hindering the doctor-patient relationship “by discouraging doctors from providing life-saving treatments to their patients during this pandemic.” It further inveighs against “hospital policies based on government guidelines” that “left many people to die alone, without sufficient representation and advocacy.”

In recognition of these facts, the resolution extends a heartfelt apology and condolences “for those lost and for the significant pain endured by every Coloradan over the last two

years, whether directly from the effects of COVID-19 or indirectly from

the efforts taken by the state in response to it.” On behalf of the legislature, it seeks “forgiveness from every Coloradan negatively impacted by the policies followed and made by the State of Colorado during this pandemic” and resolves “to learn from the mistakes made.”

It is truly hard to overstate the importance of getting every government organ on record asking forgiveness for the recognized mistakes. Two years later, the “flat curvers” are still controlling many positions of power and clearly intend to hold on to this ill-gotten power. If you watch the response of the federal government to the Florida federal judge’s ruling on the travel mask mandate, you will observe that officials not only fail to acknowledge the mistakes in their policies, but fully intend to preserve their prerogative to repeat the same mistakes. From asymptomatic and outdoor transmission to shutting down schools, masking, and mRNA gene therapies, our government has not admitted culpability in a single mistake.

Fauci recently decried the ruling on the airplane mask mandate, “We are concerned about courts getting involved in issues that are unequivocally public health issues. This is a CDC issue, not a court issue.”

In other words, he believes that health departments – federal or state – can still control your lives, property, and bodies without due process, scientific rationale, or legal backing. Which means that now, as the people have soured on these policies, is the time to push back and immunize ourselves from ever catching the tyrannical virus again. Fauci is right. Ideally, this issue is not suited for the courts. But it sure is not suited for unelected bureaucrats either. It’s time for state representatives and the people themselves to enshrine permanent bans on violations of bodily constitutions into state constitutions with no exceptions.

Today, a group of Pennsylvania lawmakers, led by Rep. Russ Diamond, are holding a press conference calling on their leadership to take up a committee-passed constitutional amendment (HB 2013) that would ban all vaccine mandates and prohibit discrimination against those who exercise the right.

It’s shocking that other states have not even passed such a bill out of committee yet and placed it on the ballot for voters this election. It’s time to let the people decide. And that begins with governments admitting they were wrong and begging for forgiveness from those whom they serve. The next step requires a permanent legal barrier to government or other human beings from ever ruling over one’s body in the form of coerced medical treatment, supposed preventives, devices, or injections.

It’s also incumbent upon them to take the billions of federal dollars handed to the departments of health and use them as reparations for people damaged by the shots. These people have nowhere to turn for diagnoses and treatment and are forced to pay for endless care out of pocket.

Remember that the American lockdowns were just a test run for what’s to come. We are getting a glimpse of what the oligarchs have in mind from what we’re witnessing in Shanghai. If your local or state governments have yet to apologize for what they did wrong, much less take corrective action to prevent a relapse into tyranny, just realize that they plan to do it again.