As someone who has been a conscious and active witness of society since 1990, I do believe there is a fundamental shift in thinking going on. The United States was incorporated in 1776 with a very clear declaration by its founders that individual liberty was the touchstone from which all just systems operate. This is why the constitution could not have held until the bill of rights was added. Government was viewed as inherently unjust - though unavoidable - and most definitely to be limited in all possible ways. In places where there was doubt, the individual was assumed to have control, and the government was not permitted to override that.

In the last ten years, the entire concept of individual liberty is under assault. The leaders of BLM, in particular, have stated openly they are marxists. Marx's philosophy does not deal with individuals; it deals with classes. Now we have Covid, and with it the declaration that individual liberty ends in the event of viral pandemic. It's not just the government doing this. There are a significant number of people who fully support the agents of the government enforcing "safety" regulations on their fellow citizens. "Community Safety" is now considered by a large portion of the population to be a greater value than individual liberty.

This is a huge shift in philosophy, and it has major repercussions for the fate of the United States going forward. People migrate to this country because they are tired of not being able to express themselves (open businesses, speak politically, practice religion freely, etc) in the countries they are leaving. But those reasons for coming to the US all depend on individual liberty. Once the majority once again rules (which is what we are now living under), all those freedoms go out the window, one by one. Please notice that religion - which is the FIRST of the Bill of Rights - is also the first freedom jettisoned under Covid.

The Ben Franklin quote has been put out thousands of times over the past ten years, but I will close with it once again, because it truly does perfectly describe our current societal movement, and we are moving exactly the wrong way:

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

We have abandoned Liberty as our goal. I guarantee we are no safer as a result.