Three Sides to an Issue

It is often said that there are always two sides to an issue. While this is frequently true, in many instances there are three sides to an issue. People see only two sides to an issue because they are often presented with a false dichotomy. An example of this occurred at a party I recently hosted.

The conversation soon shifted to the government’s response to the pandemic. One of my guests made a number of statements to which I objected. After several rounds of this, he asserted that there were two ways to deal with the pandemic. We could have lock downs, or we could let people do whatever they wanted. He put me into the latter camp.

I explained that these are false alternatives, and I reject both of them. However, he could only see two alternatives, which he essentially labeled the Republican plan and the Democrat plan. While those are the two alternatives that most are familiar with, the fact is, there are three sides to this issue. And two of them are wrong. The choice isn’t between lock downs and anarchy. The choice is between subjugating individuals to State control and freedom.

Unfortunately, many think that freedom means that one can do anything one desires. But freedom is not a license to engage in every whim, expose others to objective threats, or violate the rights of others. Freedom means the absence of coercion.

The lock downs were clearly the application of coercion. Businesses were forced to close. Individuals were forced to stay home. The alternative, however, isn’t allowing everyone to do anything they choose.

In the context of a deadly, infectious disease, infected individuals pose an objective threat to others. When individuals test positive for such diseases, it is proper to quarantine them. The lock downs quarantined everyone, including those who were not infected.

We recognize the fact that there must be some evidence that an individual committed a crime before he can be arrested. The same principle applies to infectious diseases. There must be evidence that an individual is infected before the government can force him to quarantine. The lock downs quarantined individuals without evidence of infection.

America, indeed the world, would have avoided a great deal of misery and suffering if the two prominent false alternatives had been rejected. But for that to occur, one must recognize the fact that there are often three sides to an issue.