Those who would sacrifice their freedom for a little safety deserve neither, it has been said. But we do it all the time, and the civil libertarians don’t seem to have a problem.

Every time you buy a car, you have sacrificed the freedom of paying less in exchange for safety equipment mandated by the government. When you board an airplane, you have sacrificed some (perhaps more) privacy in exchange for assurances one of your fellow passengers is not a hijacker.

But COVID-19 has tightened the screws. We are being told we cannot dine in restaurants because social distancing would be impossible. Some are being told they cannot go to another state to buy liquor. Others are being told they cannot buy seeds to plant a spring garden. Some businesses have been instructed to close because what they do would require the same risk of both employees and customers.

In some states, the demands are even more draconian — and the enforcement has been rigid, to say the least.

In one Southern town, efforts were made to intimidate people attending drive-in church services. No one got out of their vehicles, yet police harassed them.

In another place, a woman walking her dog alone reportedly was stopped by a police because she wasn’t wearing a mask, even though no other people were anywhere near her.

There have been suggestions people who may have the coronavirus wear monitors so the authorities can know where they go and what they do. Here in West Virginia, one fellow has developed a cell-phone based system that allows users to track the whereabouts of others, even those who “don’t feel well but haven’t been tested.” It’s all voluntary, but rest assured, the idea has piqued the interest of government.

Several states have issued “stay-at-home” orders. In Michigan, you can’t leave home unless you’re shopping for a limited list of items or going to work at a job the governor considers essential. That state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has come under fire. Some sheriffs have said they won’t enforce her more severe restrictions. One of the more absurd is that stores aren’t allowed to sell paint.

In some states, travelers from COVID-19 hot-spots have been ordered to self-quarantine. Failure to do so could result in arrest.

Many of the orders issued by governors clearly infringe upon guarantees in the U.S. Constitution. But because this is an emergency — often declared by the same govenors who issue the orders — the Constitution goes out the window.

Or does it?

We Americans have a long tradition of ignoring the Constitution during emergencies. Think Japanese-Americans during World War II. But that’s precisely the point. In the past, it’s almost always been “other people” who suffered. Now, it’s virtually all of us. That, somehow, is different.

Once this is over, we’re going to need to sit down and talk about this.

Should 50 governors be permitted to shut down our economy? Should they be allowed to tell us whether we can go to church? What we can buy and sell? Even whether we have to wear masks when we go outside?

That seems like an awful lot of power for 50 people.

Myer can be reached at: mmyer@theintelligencer.net.