The current epidemic of Ebola in West Africa is scary but it’s way over in Africa, right?  It won’t come here, right?  The sanitation standards in the US are so much better and we aren’t a third world country and on and on and on.  Here’s the truth:  We are absolutely vulnerable, and it may already be here.

In April, Congress was informed by the Armed Services Committee that bio kits meant to diagnose Ebola were distributed to National Guard units in all 50 states.  The JBAID, as it’s called, can also diagnose other diseases and agents such as ricin, anthrax, plague, and several variants of influenza—but the report specifically mentioned its use for Ebola virus.

Meanwhile, the CDC’s ever-helpful website points out that “The federal government derives its authority for isolation and quarantine from the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”  Oh?  That’s a new one.  Let’s take a look.

[The Congress shall have Power] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

How exactly does that mean that the federal government can forcibly quarantine even healthy people?  It doesn’t, but if you read all the regulations listed on the CDC’s page, you’ll see that’s exactly the power they’re claiming to have.  Under section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S. Code § 264), the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services has the power to take action to prevent the spread of diseases like Ebola; that power has been handed over to the CDC, which has no problem telling you that you could be forcibly detained even if you aren’t sick:

Quarantine is used to separate and restrict the movement of well persons who may have been exposed to a communicable disease to see if they become ill. These people may have been exposed to a disease and do not know it, or they may have the disease but do not show symptoms. Quarantine can also help limit the spread of communicable disease” (CDC). Quarantining involves the creation of detainment facilities in which people, who are suspected, or are infected with a pathogen, are forcibly detained and not allowed to leave. This statute also applies, in the same manner, as people who “may be exposed”.

See how all of this fits together?  How easy would it be to detain large numbers of people “for their own good” because they “may have been exposed”?

So what does all that have to do with us, you ask?  Simple.