It's a shame that our political and media class is so childish, neurotic, and politically blinkered that it can't accept Barr's entirely accurate point without dissolving into a puddle of quivering goo. ZOMG HE COMPARED LOCKDOWNS TO SLAVERY! https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1306422082717257734

It's not Barr's fault that he's talking to an audience of miseducated, hyper-politicized reporters who are still essentially teenagers in their mental and emotional development. He could have factored that in, but how else to make the absolutely true point he was making?

Yes, lockdowns absolutely ARE the biggest intrusion into American civil liberties short of slavery. Barr did NOT say they are morally EQUIVALENT to slavery, nor did he say slavery was only a smidgen worse. How can anyone look at the wreckage from lockdowns and deny it?

One can try to argue the lockdowns were necessary, while bearing in mind that a great many people disagree and have considerable evidence on their side. But necessity doesn't mitigate the magnitude of the imposition on civil liberties.

We're supposed to rationally BALANCE those things. There are crises that may require tremendous impositions on civil liberties for brief periods of time. We ought to be very soberly considering the magnitude of what government, at any level, demands in those situations.

We're less than 20 years removed from the Left and civil libertarians howling that far less severe impositions on civil liberties to combat terrorism after 9/11 were utterly unacceptable. Has everyone forgotten that already?

And if there's some kind of Godwin's Law that quietly went into effect and made all comparisons to slavery, and the legal regime that enabled it, absolutely forbidden, then someone had better inform Hollywood and left-wing pundits, because they do it ALL THE TIME.

Are we supposed to think malevolent intent is the only reason to oppose massive intrusions upon our liberties? As long as the people shredding our liberties mean well, it's all good? That's how authoritarianism and fascism get voted into control of a democratic society.

Are we supposed to think any degree of imposition upon our civil liberties is okay provided the political class thinks it's a really big emergency and promise abandon their new powers as soon as it's safe? You realize they justify EVERYTHING they want as an existential crisis?

By the way, get ready to hear the Left CONSTANTLY bleating that every liberty-shredding demand on its agenda is justified by The Worst Crisis Since the Rona. "Gun deaths in this country are even worse than the pandemic! Why are Republicans opposing common-sense gun control?"

You'll hear that rhetoric for YEARS to come, from many of the same people currently shrieking "How DARE he!" over Barr's remarks. None of those people will be castigated for daring to compare their pet issue to the coronavirus pandemic.

We're constantly told the Left is allowed to engage in such rhetoric because it's important to be "provocative" and "raise awareness" of their sacred issues. Republicans, on the other hand, are absolutely forbidden to raise awareness or make provocative statements.

Barr's statement was indeed provocative. He wanted to provoke a serious discussion about panicky government overreactions and the high cost to our civil liberties. He forgot he was talking to a deeply unserious audience. /end