Sen. Rand Paul called for “more resistance” to some rules surrounding the coronavirus and lockdowns in order for freedoms to return to everyday life.
“So we do have to have more resistance. The best resistance I’ve seen is from the restaurant owners. And in my state, they finally stood up to the governor and said, ‘Hell no, we’re not going to listen to you anymore,’” Paul told Lisa Boothe during her podcast The Truth with Lisa Boothe, which aired Monday.
Paul equated the liberties that have been lost since the virus first took hold to war eras, when “civil liberties are eroded because the government says we need to take these liberties to fight a war.”
“A pandemic is like a war in the sense that the war on this pandemic, our liberties are caught up in it,” he said.
RAND PAUL SLAMS FAUCI AS A ‘LEFT-WING ADVOCATE FOR ELITISM’ AND A ‘TV PUNDIT’
He said during the interview that the big question now is, will America “ever go back to normal again,” adding that the new rules have seeped into most areas of life, notably on airplanes.
“You know, you get on a plane, people forget that you paid them. You pay them to harass you and insult you and say, ‘Sir, you’re not eating your peanuts fast enough. Can you put your mask on in between each peanut that you eat?’ And then they say, ‘Oh, well, know, we really protected everyone’s lives. We saved lives because you only had your mask off for 10 minutes on this enclosed tube,” Paul said.
“So there’s no science behind any of this. You sit 3 inches from someone on the plane, and then when you get off that, they’re like, ‘Be very careful to socially distance as you get to the plane and be 6 feet from the person in front of you,” he said, calling it “complete nonsense.” “Yet we all meekly are submitting to it.”
The trend of pushing back against state restrictions has continued since last summer, with pubs and restaurants gaining national attention for refusing to shut down or follow other rules.
Earlier this month, restaurant owners in Paul’s home state of Kentucky, for example, sued Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear over his COVID-19 emergency orders.
“While the governor and legislature fight in court over that legislation, businesses like Goodwood Brewery have faced confusion and uncertainty as regulations have shifted multiple times,” attorneys for the businesses said in a news release.
In New York, Mac’s Public House has been in a monthslong fight to remain open, with sheriff’s deputies padlocking its doors last week for serving alcohol without a license after repeatedly breaking Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus restrictions.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
However, the owners of the bar, Danny Presti and Keith McAlarney, are continuing their legal fight.
“April 9, we’re coming for you, and it can’t come soon enough, because this is finally the time when we get to say that none of this is right, that our constitutional rights have been taken away, that these mandates are absolutely ridiculous, and it’s absurd that a year later we’re still doing this,” Presti said.
