Perhaps you have seen these pictures of Virginia Gov. Northam at the beach yesterday on Ian T. Lovejoy's Facebook & Twitter (this is my screen shot of a collage of them).
Saucy people might say that given his history we all thank Gov. Northam for not wearing a mask, but what of "social distancing"?
Two conclusions reasonable people might make from these examples.
1) See how relaxed and happy the governor and the people he's posing with look? As Governor he is getting all the medical reports and he is not afraid of getting Covid-19. So why should I be?
2) Equality before the law means, as the Oklahoma lyric has it, "I don't say I'm no better than anybody else, but I'll be damned if I ain't just as good." If the governor can do it, so can I.
A quick search brings up other examples of our nation's leaders violating their own lockdown rules.
Illinois Gov. Pritzker's family has been traveling to Florida and Wisconsin. He now says his wife and daughter were in Florida when the lockdowns began and are just sheltering in place, but he was awfully coy about this at first if it is true. And he defends the travel to Wisconsin as essential too -- working their farm. Maybe so, but then anyone else's work to save their business seems to be essential as well.
And the nation's mayors certainly are not locking down.
- Chicago Mayor Lori "we will shut you down" Lightfoot went and got her hair done.
- NYC mayor De Blasio went to the gym. Because his mental health is essential.
- The mayor's wife in Alton, IL went out partying.
- Beaumont, Texas Mayor gets her nails done.
It's not merely the arrogance and hypocrisy on display here that are so galling -- though they certainly are. It's that these people are destroying respect for the law by teaching that laws are arbitrary, just picky regulations with no basis in reality, so we need have no moral respect for them -- after all, the folks most in the know don't follow them.
Remember Lincoln? "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is not democracy." If you, as legislator or executive, think you are exempt, then everyone is exempt. That is the meaning of rule of law.
Because you ain't better than anybody else. And they are all just as good.
Because you ain't better than anybody else. And they are all just as good.
In any case, whatever the "Science" may say, between the restiveness of the people after more than 2 months in lockdown, and the financial ruin folks can no longer abide, Gov. Northam's photos are surely the sign that lockdowns are over. What can the state say to anyone at this point?
P.S. Just because these particular examples are hilarious, here are some hilarious international examples.
The mayor in a small town in Peru violated lockdown and then faked his own death to avoid the fine!
And perhaps the most egregious example: Neil Ferguson, who is the main reason we have any lockdowns in the first place, felt adultery was an essential task.
