‘Wouldn’t it be nice’ if we didn’t need rules and regulations to keep us safe?

Brian Wilson created what many feel is perfection, when he wrote and then produced and recorded ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice” with The Beach Boys. For those unfamiliar with this classic, I’ll point out that Brian was singing about marriage. He just wanted to get married and spend the rest of his life with the love of his life. However, Brian and his then girlfriend were seen as too young to be married. Sad for Brian, perfection for the rest of us.

Wouldn’t it be nice. One phrase in the English language that is almost always followed by another phrase beginning with the word “if”. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could be married? Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a little more money in the bank? Wouldn’t it be nice if people would behave decently towards other people?

It’s that last one that leads me down the rabbit hole of government restrictions and mandates put in place to try and mitigate the coronavirus that is ravaging the United States. With no federal mandates in place, individual states are left to the task of imposing rules, restrictions and regulations in order to protect their residents from the virus. Fifty states with 50 different sets of rules. Sadly, states do have one thing in common: people who feel these rules and restrictions amount to government overreach and challenge them in their state courts.

Most of these challenges have at their base the premise that individuals should be encouraged to do the right thing and take all necessary precautions. Encouraged, but not forced. The underlying sentiment being that most, if not all, people will indeed do the right thing and observe health department suggestions for stopping the spread of the virus. Ah yes, wouldn’t it be nice?

Only one problem is human nature. We are, each and every one one of us, flawed creations, especially when it comes to the way we treat others. Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t need laws to keep us from taking stuff that doesn’t belong to us? Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t need regulations to keep children from toiling in mines and factories? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could trust restaurants to keep prep areas clean and food stored at proper temperatures?

Yes it would be very nice. Cheaper, too. But the problem is, we can’t depend on people to do the right thing. Hence, laws and regulations.

Sure there have been communities built around the idea of a communal good. Treating others the way you would like to be treated. Utopian communities pop up every now and then throughout history, but they never last long.

And along comes COVID-19, a virus that can spread from one person to another, without either person being aware of being infected. A health crisis in which one individual’s actions will affect complete strangers, killing some and making others mildly ill. What’s a government to do? Trust each and every citizen to take precautions? Or use hundreds of years of experience and develop regulations that hopefully will force compliance?

History has shown us that we cannot be trusted to treat our neighbor as we would wish to be treated. Laws are enacted for very good reasons. And what are COVID-19 mandates, but laws to keep us all safe and healthy. No different than seat belt laws, speed limits, health regulations already in place. Some are probably afraid simply because these regulations were enacted so quickly. Yet time is of the essence when it comes to pandemics.

The minutia of some regulations are open for debate, but the bottom line is not all people can be counted on to take care of their fellows. Not all people can be expected to refrain from breaking in to their neighbors’ house. And not all people can be counted on to stop the spread of the virus. But, wouldn’t it be nice?

Ross DeAeth is a former radio announcer, copywriter and a retired educator.