We tried to warn you.

When Americans merrily surrendered their civil liberties in 2020, some of us cautioned that it would be devilishly hard to get them back. Politicians love power. So do government factotums. They don’t relinquish it willingly.

Case in point: Biden’s justice department filed papers yesterday asking a federal appeals court to overturn an earlier ruling that tossed out the CDC’s mask mandate on public transit.

In April, a federal judge in Florida ruled that the health agency overstepped its authority and failed to follow procedures by instituting the forced masking on public transportation. The CDC was also slapped down last year by the U.S. Supreme Court over its outrageous rent moratorium, instituted during the Trump administration.

I didn’t believe flash polls that showed a majority of Americans wanting to keep mask mandates on air travel back in April. After more than a month of no mandates, anecdotal accounts claim that the vast number of air passengers have ditched masks and so have flight crews.

Perhaps the pollsters checked in only with folks who were still hiding under their beds.

It’s worth noting that reports of unruly passengers dropped immediately after the masks were gone, giving credence to the theory that the explosion in bad behavior in the past two years was the result of forced masking on planes.

When Biden didn’t ask for a stay of the ruling in April, it looked like an uncommon flash of common sense from this mandate-loving administration. But the CDC, perhaps hopeful that another pandemic is coming and the lab-coats will once again wield power over the rest of us, seem determined to get a win in court.

It is imperative that the federal appeals court - and failing that, the U.S. Supreme Court - continue to rein in the profoundly undemocratic and out-of-control governmental agencies.

It isn’t just the mask mandates that need to be permanently scrapped. The CDC’s requirement that all air travelers be tested for Covid 24 hours before entering the country also needs to go. Few other countries have similar restrictions. The pre-entry testing adds to the cost of travel, discourages tourism and has left Americans stranded overseas.

Besides, Covid tests are not required of those who enter the country legally by land at the Canadian or Mexican border crossings.

Oh, and the thousands of illegals pouring across the southern border every week? No Covid tests, no masks and no passports required of them.

Just come on in.