It was 8:36AM. I sat on the steps of the downtown post office in Huntington Beach, waiting for a friend. A middle-aged, well-dressed male parked his white Lexus across the street, and started walking toward me. Halfway across the street, he stopped, turned around, and marched back to his car. He opened the door, grabbed a facemask, and crossed the road again.
I smiled as he bounded up the steps past me, “Thanks for wearing a mask.”
“I shouldn’t have to wear it,” he barked back.
“I hear ya,” I replied as he disappeared into the post office.
A few minutes later, my friend exited the post office. We walked back to the parking lot, retrieved our bikes from our cars, and went for a 35-mile bike ride along the Huntington Beach bike path and Santa Ana River canal. Afterward, we ate a takeout breakfast on the lonely steps next to the busy pier. We wore facemasks the whole time (except when eating). Most people did not. We are both vaccinated. Only 52% of the adults in Orange County are vaccinated.
Those who choose not to wear masks or get vaccinated have told me that it is a matter of individual liberty. They say that the government is interfering with their right to choose, stomping on their freedom, infringing on their rights. I say they are 100% correct and 50% complete.
Those who declare that personal liberty is compromised by mandates are correct. Big brother is telling us what to do. Yet liberty is only half the picture. To wear a mask (or be vaccinated) or not is NOT the question. The real question is:”How do we manage the tension between individual liberty AND community safety?” To choose either side at the expense of the other side is not democracy; it’s tyranny. The wise know that the essence of democracy is the management of tension (and power) between liberty and community, individual and government, states’ rights and federalism… Democracy is a paradox to be lived, not a problem to be solved.
Our conversation about masks/vaccines (and other government guidelines/mandates) should be about honoring a person’s right NOT to wear a mask AND the need to care for our community’s safety. We are a better country when we stop yelling at each other and start discussing how to manage the tension between individual liberty and society security.
I believe we can find the golden mean between the extremes because we do it all the time. We follow the speed limit by driving slowly through neighborhoods where kids play. Speed limits are raised on our highways. A middle ground was found by many states when the science of second-hand smoke prompted states to ban smoking indoors. Smokers can still light up outside (liberty), but not at the expense of community (safety). Drunk driving laws try to balance the rights of individuals to drink with the rights of the community to feel safe.
James Madison, the architect of the U.S. Constitution, wrote an essay in 1792 stating, “Every word of the Constitution decides a question between power and liberty.” Madison knew our democracy depends on the balance of power, not polarized positions by close-minded politicians. Our united states work best where compromise and collaboration are compliments, not violations of entrenched positions.
So let’s all stop asking, How do we get everyone vaccinated? Nor should we ask, How do we get the government off our backs? It’s wise to remember that answering the wrong question right is still wrong. Instead, let us act with honor and honesty as we discuss the question of balance at the heart of our democracy: How do we manage the tension between individual liberty AND community safety?
Learn more about paradox in chapter five of my book, Wisdom’s Way to Happiness Today.