NJ residents no longer have the right to assemble (Opinion)

The question for state officials is how to balance public safety in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and peoples' civil liberties. The New Jersey governor and attorney general yesterday promised to crack down on house parties during this state of emergency.

So during this time, the state has the right to come into your home and fine or arrest you for having family and friends over? We never thought we'd be in the position to ask this question, but here we are.

While I get the panic and the fear, much of it stoked by the media and some in local and federal government, this seems so beyond what Americans would normally tolerate. We are not in normal times, and New Jerseyans are not normal Americans. A population that would allow the gross over-taxation and stripping away of our rights, as with the SecondAmendment abuses here, is more likely than many other states to just go along with the idea.

Maybe you're irresponsible for having a large gathering, but how many is too many to have over to your house? Three? Five? Ten? We had my son, his wife and baby over for dinner Saturday night. Were the five of us in violation? I think we're definitely on a slippery slope in how much power we've allowed our government to have over every aspect of our lives.

With this new scary situation we're facing, I feel us sliding downhill ... fast.

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