(SIDENOTE: My apologies, if he'd like them, to Ron Paul for using his image in the thumbnail, but I think he would have been the best U.S. President if he'd have been elected)
Initially, I remember thinking we were once again getting duped by the political machine, similar to swine flu, Anthrax, SARS, Africanized bees, The "Big One" (San Andreas earthquake in California), Islamic terrorists, the Oil Crisis, Global Cooling, Global Warming, Global Climate Change, the Cuban Missile Crisis etc. etc. (I could go on and on)
So this time, about 9 months ago we had the flu/COVID-19 reports and I was skeptical. It's probably like one of the similar events I'd already heard about maybe more than a dozen times or so. I didn't believe it was likely much significance until I started seeing videos like this:
... and hearing from more than one person that the death rates were about 1 chance in 4, if you caught it, and that it spreads like (almost identically to?) the flu and I remember seeing a report stating that "they can't count the bodies" in New York, but here we are are well over half a year later of reported "spikes" in every State and a practical continual barrage of what appear to be fear tactics and political threats employed to suppress and demoralize people, yet the scene appears to have totally changed and once again we were duped into believing this stuff. The reports now look more like it may not be even more significant that the typical cold/flu and my personal first hand experiences agree.
I, similar to President Trump, caved under the pressure to an extent but as others have said (paraphrased), "The truth can't be hidden for long"
In the case of Ron Paul, I feel confident saying that he would likely have said that government should have done little more than offer possible assistance to people desiring of it, instead of enforcing lockdowns or prohibiting people who desired so to mix and mingle. No, I don't have any quotes offhand to that effect but I recognize his general calibre.
There are no guarantees in life.
