But when I walked through the old Wyoming Territorial Prison this weekend, it didn’t look that bad. The prisoners could walk outside. In fact, that’s how many of them attempted to escape, by scaling the walls when no one was looking.
Melbourne’s 258 days of lockdown — courtesy of warden Dan Andrews and his henchman Brett Sutton — seem draconian by comparison. A nightly curfew. Travel restrictions. And now, compulsory vaccination or second-class citizenship where you are denied ‘freedoms’ that others have.
Here’s a red-hot tip: it’s not a freedom if the government can take it away. The greatest trick Devil Dan ever pulled is getting people to think your rights are something the government gives to you. If they give them, then they can take them away — now, tomorrow, or whenever they want.
The Andrews government first declared a state of emergency — and effectively suspended the rule of law in Victoria — on 16 March 2020. I remember because I was in Melbourne at the time, celebrating my birthday with a dour drink at a bar downtown that would soon have to close. It was a dark day.
