Spurgeon's Cigar

I'm a voracious consumer of information. Most of that information is scholarly and complex because of my academic interests and writing topics. But I also consume what is termed "the news," and I do my best to give a fair ear to news sources both on the left and on the right. I'm somewhere in the middle. That "fair ear" includes the current debate over whether or not masks help prevent COVID-19 or not, so I understand why my friends and colleagues have conflicting opinions about masks, thus the title of this essay, "To Mask, or not to Mask." With regard to the First Amendment and the right of free speech, I have taught the COTUS in depth and word-by-word almost every year since 1987; I've written one book on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment; I have an in-depth understanding of Enlightenment deists' theory of natural rights and its impact upon the Founders even though I cannot count the number of times I've told a ...