And so you've watched as they have managed to criminalize the plague. Or, more precisely, the carriers of it. It shall be unlawful for any person to be suspected of possession of controlled substance; to wit: the virus de jour. The fifth of its kind. What's more, you've not only let them shift the burden of proving innocence of such possession to the accused, you've also sat quietly while they have, without just compensation, usurped all private commerce. No one is immune. They have made it nearly impossible to access the testing mechanism to assert innocence and, finally, rendered even a completely persuasive assertion of that innocence irrelevant. You are, all of you, confined to house arrest. At present, there is no evidence that can be presented that will discharge an individual, any individual, from the accusation that he or she might be tainted. It is not just original sin, it is pervasive and indelible sin. Further, the sin persists.

There is a new reality, they insist, after 200,000 years of battling pathogens. It is only this latest virus de jour that mandates a total rework of Western Civilization. The Republic has always been at war with the Eurasia virus. The Republic shall forever be at war with the Eurasia virus. You are all guilty by default (though the state may deign to ignore your offence if you are a member of a currently recognized and disadvantaged class).

The enthusiasm and verve with which they strive to seize power in such moments should alarm you, and yet it does not. You, all of you, slipped in exactly this way back in 2008-2009. You are slipping again. I'm not at all sure you will regain your feet this time. I'm not at all sure you deserve to. It has been tolerable to live an ocean away until now. It is preferable of a sudden.

You have crowned him in Latin. Long live the king. You must now endure his rule (though he is destined to die quickly and you shall be left pulling the yoke for his ministers for much longer).