Yet when I asked him why of the top 10, the top 9 all had mask mandates, he pivoted to the final argument:

“I get what those numbers say, but I am still going to wear a mask to help other people feel more comfortable.”

The trap was sprung.

He knew at that moment he had screwed up. Mask-mandates do nothing to stop the spread of COVID-19, full-stop. The data shows it, the numbers coming out of these states show it, and any state that has lifted their mask-mandates has not seen an increase in cases or deaths (aside from the predicted second wave) after the action was taken. Masks are worthless, aside from the performative relief it provides certain people. If you are fully vaccinated (that is, two weeks after the second shot), you have even less of a reason to wear a mask. This isn’t a directive that people should ignore mask-mandates on private property, rather it is an argument against government forced mask-mandates. //

It is the basis for 95% of my arguments. Government is a failure at every turn. More government control almost exclusively ends with disaster. People say that government is here to protect us. The truth of it is, government is here to protect itself and expand its own tentacles of control into anything into which it can. Government inherently grows. No government has ever willfully retracted power it has asserted. As Ronald Reagan said, “There’s nothing more permanent than a temporary government program.”