Those in the federal government using your money to bribe the states to do what they wants in nothing new. But this little piece of tyranny takes it a step further. In an effort to “protect” you from this nasty COVID-19 virus the federal government wants to pay states to spy on you.
Called the ““COVID–19 Testing, Reaching, And Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act”, H.R. 6666 is nothing less than an attempt by those we hire to be our servants in Washington, D.C. to bribe the states to spy on their citizens.
In General.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may award grants to eligible entities to conduct diagnostic testing for COVID–19, to trace and monitor the contacts of infected individuals, and to support the quarantine of such contacts,
H.R. 6666 – Section 2(a)
Some of you may think that referring to federal grants to the states as bribery may be a bit over the top. Then lets take a look at the definition of bribery.
The act or practice of giving or taking rewards for corrupt practices; the act of paying or receiving a reward for a false judgment, or testimony, or for the performance of that which is known to be illegal, or unjust. It is applied both to him who gives, and to him who receives the compensation, but appropriately to the giver.
Bribery – Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
So if the federal government gives money to the states as a reward for doing something known to be illegal or unjust, then they and the states that accept the money are guilty of bribery. So is the purpose of the “COVID–19 Testing, Reaching, And Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act” illegal or unjust?
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;
U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 1
I suppose a case could be made that COVID-19 testing is for the general welfare of the union, but it is a weak case. After all, the vast majority of the states in the union have few COVID-19 patients. Based on the Johns Hopkins map of confirmed U.S. cases, the vast majority of cases are in only eight to ten states.
(c) Priority.—In selecting grant recipients under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to—
(1) applicants proposing to conduct activities funded under this section in hot spots and medically underserved communities;
H.R. 6666 – Section 2(c)
And if the Secretary of Health and Human Services decides to define hotspots based on confirmed cases by population, then most of the $100 Billion will go to New York City and the surrounding area. So that could be an unjust use of funds, but what about illegal?
If you read all of Section 2(a) you will see that this money isn’t just for testing. It is also “to trace and monitor the contacts of infected individuals, and to support the quarantine of such contacts”. Is it illegal to trace and monitor people?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,
U.S. Constitution, Amendment IV
How secure are you in your person if the government can surveil you without your knowledge and without a warrant? And how does a state define “contact”? Do I have to touch someone, or only be within six feet of them? What if I enter the same establishment as an infected individual. Does it have to be within a minute, five minutes, an hour, 24 hours, a week? What if my daughter enters a convince store 24 hours after an infected person. Since she lives with my wife and I are we now considered “infected individuals” and all of our contacts can now be tracked and spied on? And the big, nasty question few people seem to be asking, if the government can spy on your for COVID-19, why not for some other “emergency”. What if your neighbor buys something with cash that makes some government official suspicious, can you be tracked because had had “contact” with them? What if some distant relative is arrested for a drug crime, can you be surveilled as a “contact”? Or what if you cross paths with an illegal alien, can ICE track your movements?
It’s bad enough when companies we share our data with give it over to the government willy nilly through the misguided “Third-Party Doctrine”, (see my article on the case Carpenter v. United States.) But H.R. 6666 authorizes bribes for states to test and trace individual through “mobile health units” (H.R. 6666 – Section 2(a)(1)). And H.R. 6666 never defines a “mobile health unit”. Will there be vehicles driving the streets tracing and tracking Americans? Will the use drones? Think of all the possible things that could be called “mobile health units” and how they can be used to invade your privacy and violate your right to be secure in your person.
Not Letting a Crisis go to Waste
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”
William Pitt (the Younger), Speech in the House of Commons, November 18, 1783
Just like the Patriot Act, this TRACE Act is another attempt by those we hire to be our representatives to circumvent the law and spy on us. They are using the excuse of the “necessity” of tracking those with COVID to prevent its spread as an excuse to spy on us. Today it’s COVID-19, who knows what it will be tomorrow. The question I have for the American people is, are you citizens or are you slaves?
The TRACE Act is just the latest in a long line of arguments proving that many of those we sent to Washington, D.C. to be our representatives are tyrants. While that might not have been their intention, it has become the de facto state of those who work in our federal government. But will we use necessity as our creed, our reason for subjecting ourselves to slavery, or will we stand up and take control of those we have hired to work as our agents.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Declaration of Independence
When will Americans say enough of this tyranny? When will the evils of our elected officials no longer be sufferable? When the American people finally decide to right themselves, will there be anything left of the rights and liberties we were once known?
