I love this country. One of the many things I love about this country is the Bill of Rights. Freedom is one of the many things that makes this country great. However, I think many people misinterpret the Bill of Rights. It agitates me when someone does something perhaps inappropriate and asserts, “it is a free country.” Yes, we do live in a free country, but those freedoms are not guaranteed to Americans in all aspects of life. The first ten amendments are protections against the government. In certain cases, the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights are not upheld in private businesses. YouTube can censor speech even though Americans enjoy the freedom of speech and expression. Private actors are not bound by the Bill of Rights in that context. In the same way that restaurants reserve the right to have dress codes, establishments reserve the right to only serve customers that wear masks. Freedoms cut both ways. For example, I saw a video where a man was upset that a Costco manager would not let him shop without a mask. Of course, he asserted something about living in a free country. Yes, it is, but businesses are also free to flex rights as well. Not to mention that Costco has a membership agreement in which they are allowed to discriminate with respect to certain things. The Bill of Rights is to stop the government from infringing on citizens’ rights, not to stop Costco from forcing customers to wear masks. The framers knew the possible tyranny of government, they experienced it first hand. Tyrannical government is the justification for the Bill of Rights, not tyrannical private businesses.
-Griffin