It should now be self-evident for anyone with common sense that the Democrats, liberals, and their convenient Republican allies like "Republicans for the Rule of Law" are using the coronavirus as a cover to advance their deconstruction of America without opposition behind the veil of "saving lives" and "saving democracy." This has been the dream of liberals for over a century. Now they will not relent until they deliver the coup de grâce to their enemies: Christianity, small businesses, and civil society as a whole.

The importance of civil liberties in the Anglo-American tradition, as venerable writers like Alexis de Tocqueville, Michael Oakeshott, and Robert Nisbet have written, is that civil liberties constitute the pulsating heart of the first order of our existence. The purpose of civil liberties is to create a wall of separation between the people and overreaching political tyranny. Civil liberties ensure the independence and sovereignty of houses of worship, intermediate associations, and free enterprise from the collectivizing and totalizing iron rod of centralized government.

In his insightful, and now seemingly prophetic, essay "The Political Economy of Freedom," Michael Oakeshott reminds us that the prerequisites for a free society are "freedom of association" and the "freedom enjoyed in the right to own private property." These two pillars that support a free society and free people are enshrined in the American Constitution, and for good reason. Free association (exemplified in the First Amendment) and the right to property and the enjoyment of private property (exemplified in the Fourth Amendment) are under siege by the totalitarian impulses of petty governors and mayors who wish for nothing more than to burn what is left of an already mostly shredded Constitution.

The assault against the American Constitution is nothing new. Frankly, the Constitution hasn't been enforced over American political order since at least the Franklin Roosevelt administration. But the origins of the offensive against the Constitution are irrelevant for us. What matters, in the here and now, is being aware of how the last vestiges of constitutional independence are being threatened by Democrats and their convenient media Republican stooges, who like to shame other Republicans while selling out the Constitution behind their veil of high-minded principles.

Collectivists of all stripes, whether they be liberals, social democrats, democratic socialists, or communists, have always despised the Constitution and the diminutive political order the Constitution promotes because the genuine constitutional order is the true safeguard of diversity and plurality, which prevents homogenized social planning and social engineering. Beneath our noses, the "guidelines" and "recommendations" — alongside the actual mandated orders by our political officials — serve as the first stage of widespread social engineering. The intent is to break the spirit of independent Americans and shape them into a herd of conformity, which permits bureaucratic control over every facet of our lives.

While some governors and local officials look to "reopen" their states and towns, Democratic governors and mayors have doubled down on more draconian and tyrannical measures while their masochistic Republican media allies cheer them on as "responsible" leaders. Oakeshott tells us why: "[t]he believer in collectivism naturally looks upon war as an opportunity not to be missed, and the demobilization of society is no part of his programme."

Over the last month, we have heard about how we are "at war" with the coronavirus. "The real spring of collectivism," Oakeshott says, "is not a love of liberty, but war[.] ... And large scale collectivism is, moreover, inherently warlike." Under the guise of confronting the coronavirus, collectivists have unleashed their war against civil society, civil liberty, and the Constitution. Stopping the coronavirus is not their goal, even though they claim that it is. Killing the spirit of liberty is their primary goal.

Why else are protests against government overreach — guaranteed by our First Amendment — banned and deemed "non-essential"? Why else is our right to free association, especially in matters of religious worship — also guaranteed by our First Amendment — targeted by the anti-Christ enforcers and their pawns? Why else are businesses, which constitute "life, liberty, [and] property" for so many Americans — guaranteed by our Fourth Amendment — deemed "non-essential" and forced to close without due process or restitution? The heart of civil society has been ripped out and thrown away with gleeful and malevolent intent by our neo-Bolshevik ruling class. The ending of lockdowns, which has been part of the mass orchestrated mobilization of war, has no part in the collectivist war to enslave everything independent of the central planning by experts.

People across the United States are being "deprived of life, liberty, [and] property, without due process of law." People across the United States are being denied the "free exercise" of religion. People across the United States are being denied "the freedom of speech." People across the United States are being denied peaceable assembly and the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Our civil liberties are the surest safeguard against collectivized totalitarianism. The true face of tyranny has shown itself in the midst of the virus outbreak. While other nations ease their restrictions and begin reopening schools and sectors of their economy, collectivist Democrats and their servile allies in the media and the Republican Party increase their restrictions.

The collectivist war to destroy the last vestiges of liberty, private property, religious worship — the last vestiges of the civil society that makes America truly unique and great — is not yet complete. We might add to Oakeshott and say the restoration of civil liberty is not part of the collectivist program, either. The "new normal" these tyrants speak of is nothing short of a collectivist dystopia where the government has total control of everything.