Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) got taken to school and utterly humiliated on Tuesday when claimed that the Founding Fathers would never have approved of restrictions, lockdowns, and mask orders in order to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the United States.
60 million Americans are subject to a stay at home order or curfew.
11 million are right here in Ohio.
What would the Founders say?
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 29, 2020
Of course, Jordan conveniently neglected to mention that 336,000 Americans are dead from the virus, which is spreading, and that a more virulent strain of the disease that originated in the United Kingdom has now been located in the U.S., which could be very bad news as vaccines slowly roll out across the country.
Historians were quick to pummel Jordan with facts and references to similar moments in American history and how U.S. leaders acted:
In July of 1776 the entire of city of Boston was closed so they could safely inoculate for smallpox. It lasted months and no one could leave once it began. They did it again in 1778. The Founders would be proud that the government was protecting its citizens from disease. https://t.co/xfiKiWhoga
— Andrew Wehrman (@ProfWehrman) December 29, 2020
2/ Second:
“The Founders” WOULD agree on the existence of something called the “common good.”
This, too, had no simple meaning.
The “common good” of who?Even so, they recognized that–one way or another–gov’t should protect it in some way
In a way, government is a big “we”
— Dr. Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755) December 29, 2020
There was a massive smallpox epidemic during the American Revolution.
George Washington quarantined the infected, refused to let people from hot spots travel to his army, and even sent a thousand soldiers to Boston to prevent the spread there. https://t.co/WueBNEnnj6
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) December 29, 2020
Others on social media also weighed in on Jordan’s tweet:
Since you asked, here is what John Adams said about “the common good”, which the founding fathers felt strongly about: pic.twitter.com/xa37ezFDJ1
— Trixie Belle (@trixiebelle47) December 29, 2020
The Founding Fathers would throw you in jail for ignoring sexual abuse, @Jim_Jordan. https://t.co/Qp7pEV2QJ0
— Kimberley Johnson (@AuthorKimberley) December 29, 2020
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had more historians in elected office than hacks like Jim Jordan? We the people need to do our best to make that happen.
Featured Image Via CNN
