Tony L
Administrator
This, it seems to me, goes to the heart of the US dilemma. There's a view that the US should be a nation of rugged frontiersfolk, looking after themselves, with zero interference from the government. From this comes the Republican belief in low taxation, in Grover Nyquist's famous formulation, eventually to reduce the government to such a size that it can be drowned in a bathtub.
I find that aspect of the US right mindset incomprehensible, it is just insane, though I feel that way about religion too, and that’s obviously right in the mix here too.
One of the YouTube guitar/music-tech bloggers, ‘Brad the Guitologist’, I used to follow is now facing actual terrorism charges after going all Trump/libertarian anti-mask nutter at a local school. I unsubscribed after the last US election after it became clear he was on the total delusion/anti-democracy side of the political map and it was clearly starting to impact his content. Since then he looks to have turned into Charles Manson:
PS FWIW I do think he has a legitimate point with regard to masks and his autistic daughter. Here in the UK she would be exempt for that reason. The rest is however batshit libertarianism with an ugly underlying current of white supremacy, as right-wing libertarianism always has. I found it fascinating and depressing just how far clearly bright people can fall down such an ugly rabbit hole. He’s a really good guitar/guitar amp tech and his channel used to stick to that content.