This article was written by Aaron Kesel and originally published at Activist Post
New York governor Andrew Cuomo wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times begging President U.S. Donald Trump to enact martial law. Meanwhile, other states have already taken shocking martial law measures without an official declaration, showing our potential unconstitutional future under fears of the coronavirus that likely won’t go away after the pandemic has subsided.
All over the U.S. there seems be this new trend — military and police now acting as if we are under martial law without a formal declaration of such. Yet, here we have NYC’s governor Cuomo begging Trump to essentially declare martial law by utilizing the military for the COVID-19 pandemic and federalize shutdowns.
“Slowing the spread of coronavirus is a function of testing and reducing the density of public gatherings. So first, Mr. President, you must stop the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from overregulating the testing process, and authorize states to certify a wider array of testing labs and methods,” Cuomo writes.
Cuomo goes on to express that Trump should utilize the Army Corps of Engineers to transform existing facilities into temporary medical centers.
States cannot build more hospitals, acquire ventilators or modify facilities quickly enough. At this point, our best hope is to utilize the Army Corps of Engineers to leverage its expertise, equipment and people power to retrofit and equip existing facilities — like military bases or college dormitories — to serve as temporary medical centers. Then we can designate existing hospital beds for the acutely ill.
To sum up what Trump can do to defend against the spread of the coronavirus Cuomo writes, “In short: Localize testing, federalize shutdowns and task the Army Corps of Engineers to expand hospital capacity.”
While building hospital beds in existing facilities and using the military to do so isn’t a bad idea, forced quarantines would be expanding the police state. The whole state of New York, hasn’t yet gone into “martial law mode,” but other states have basically enacted it in the form of the National Guard being deployed in heavily infected areas. According to reports, the National Guard has been deployed so far to six states including New York in New Rochelle, with many more states expected to follow. Beyond that, there are reports that Kentucky has a patient who refused to self isolate. As a result, the state took things into their own hands by suspending his rights and police are now guarding him armed 24/7 at his house. If that’s not enough, there was a video posted online of New Orleans’ police in several cop cars demanding citizens leave the streets and disperse immediately.