Imagine you’re an egotistical megalomaniac who had decides that your fellow man could hope for nothing better, than to have you in a position of supreme authority over society at large.

You set about implementing your plan for world domination, but you’re shocked to learn most of the rest of your fellow humans don’t share your confidence or excitement in the idea of your rule.

Maybe you try unsuccessfully, to gain control of some portion of society, but you find that what you’re selling, others are not buying.

You reason that they’re just confused, or they lack vision. If they could only see the incredible benefit in having you in control of their little worlds, they would not just willingly hand over the reins, they’d happily do so.

“If only there were a way to gain control through subterfuge, so people don’t see it coming; then slowly shift direction so society works as it ought to.” you tell yourself.

Then it hits you, “I can get myself voted into some position of power, then use various mechanisms already in place to boost my authority over the peons.”

“That would require people to like me enough to vote for me.” You think. “And it would take more time than using other methods.

So instead of garnering support through a popular election, you decide to look for other ways to accomplish your ends.

One day, you’re talking to a friend. As the conversation moves forward, you start discussing how government operates. Your friend tells you he has another friend who’s been appointed to some office in which she makes decisions about some facet of people’s lives they never would’ve guessed she controls.

“That’s it! That’s the answer!” you exclaim inside your head.

It’s at that point, you seek to receive an appointment to some position, through which you can covertly carry out your plan for bettering the world.

In your wanderings, you come to understand there’s a government department called, “The Office of Public Safety.” Instead of seeking an appointment to lead that entity, you find it’s relatively easy to just get a position there as an employee.

You start out low on the totem pole, but in the long run, work your way up the ladder and before long, you’re making policy decisions for the group.

Not wanting to attract too much attention, you take your sweet time, implementing policies that give you more and more power.

As an example, you make it a rule that any time anything like a storm that’ll dump more than a few inches of rain passes through your little piece of the planet, a warning is issued by your office.

Because the press generally believes you’re doing what you’re doing for the benefit of the locals, when you issue such a warning, it’s echoed far and wide.

Before long, you have people hiding in their houses every time your office puts out an alert.

Initially, you might do things in such a way as to truly attempt to protect the citizenry. In the long run though, you have other plans.

You start to issue notifications when it’s not really particularly necessary or beneficial so to do. It’s never terribly obvious that’s the case, so people continue to follow your lead.

It’s at that point you realize you can literally affect everyday life of those under your jurisdiction.

Things are getting good!

Because of your position, you begin to rub elbows with those who run things from an elected perspective—politicians.

In those interactions, you meet people of like mind to your own. They too seek to change the status quo; they too, desire to be large and in charge. Between you and them, you realize you truly have an opportunity to effect change.

As you’re working together with those folks, you begin to use your power and authority, to cause everyday people to move in directions they would never travel on their own.

Then you hear about some viral outbreak and things really start to move forward. You issue a warning that people need to undertake quarantine activities if they’re in certain places, or came into contact with given individuals.

In some measure, you’re actually truly trying to protect people from a wider outbreak, but in the process of doing things, the light dawns on you. If you can use something like this to best effect, what started as an innocent warning system, can be used to make major changes.

The next time a virus breaks out, you seize your opportunity.

Firstly, you tell your friends in politics this could be bad. Such an outbreak could spread and cause unknown amounts of damage. Then, over the course of time, you amass people who either willingly, or with some convincing, say things that allow you ever more control.

It starts with, “We just need to shelter in place, wear masks in public, and distance ourselves from others for a couple of weeks, to slow the spread and flatten the curve.” By the time it’s all said and done though, you’ve helped to lock down your region and aided in silencing dissenters in the process, by helping to get mask laws passed, which they receive citations for breaking.

Before long, it’s been six months, many folks are out of work, more people than ever are counting on government largess and there’s no end in sight.

You may think what I’m saying here could never happen. You may wonder why anybody would want it to. You can rest assured, there are reasons that fit the agendas of certain elected officials who seek to change how life looks on a more or less permanent basis.

In the end, the point is, if you don’t take the time to see what’s happening, if you continue to cede your rights to “government agencies here to help,” you shouldn’t be surprised when the result is not what you expected. Whether you like it or not, when some folks taste power, their response may be to want a whole lot more. Is that what’s presently happening here? You decide.

Thanks for reading and may your time be good.