Politicians: Covid is Over But the Emergency Remains

Close the tyranny loopholes!

Allow the government to break the law during an “emergency”, and it will create an “emergency” to break the law.

It’s been nearly two years since Trump first declared a state of emergency because of covid-19, and now (thanks to cratering poll numbers), politicians are falling over themselves lifting the literally in-your-face covid restrictions. Despite this, Joe Biden recently extended the official national emergency for another year, allowing him another year of before-unprecedented powers. This tracks with places like Washington state, where Jay Inslee has been ruling over the citizens like a king. He continues to demand emergency powers for a third year, and listen to his reasons why:

The video cuts off before (IMO) the best part. Here’s the last bit, after the rambling about Trump and horse dewormer is finished.

"We need this emergency order for the three reasons that I just articulated—we needed to protect hospitals so that people don’t get sick from this still-deadly disease by requiring masks in hospitals," said Inslee during a press conference Monday. "We needed to protect employees… and third, we needed to be able to keep federal funds, so we can get federal assistance, rather than state tax dollars." (emphasis mine)

The first and second points are nonsensical because, as the data shows again and again, masks do nothing to stop the spread of covid. In fact, if Inslee REALLY thought that people would get sick when they take off their masks, there’s no better time for that to happen than right now! We don’t want to drag our curve into what used to be flu season, do we? Side note: This was also true in spring 2020 (no masks, no spike) and in spring 2021 (masks, no spike).

Of course, we know from states who have been without mask mandates for months that nothing we do (or don’t do) can alter the course of the drop in virus activity across the country.

Inslee’s third point I’m more interested in, because he’s literally saying that the emergency must continue so emergency funds can continue funding it. As is so often the case the last couple years, government’s own stupid rules give an excuse for the perpetuation of more stupid rules.

And this is mirrored on the national stage — even to the point of tying the state of emergency with being able to keep covid manageable, an argument once again destroyed by places without covid rules.

“The best way to ensure that we keep schools open and cases low is by staying at the ready, and that is what these emergency powers enable us to do,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech. “By prematurely terminating the national emergency declaration on COVID, it will be harder to ensure we have enough supplies, enough support for health care workers, and it risks throwing tens of millions of student loan borrowers into needless uncertainty and anxiety.” (emphasis mine)

Our hands are tied! You don’t want people who took out student loans to be forced to pay those loans back now, do you? (Astute observers will note this can be an excuse indefinitely)

And of course, during an EMERGENCY there’s EMERGENCY MONEY to distribute!

$10 billion emergency funding for Ukraine, $0 emergency funding for Main Street

When it’s politically convenient for covid to be over, the ‘leaders’ declare it’s over. When it’s politically convenient for covid to still be an emergency, it’s still an emergency. And while the legislature in Washington — and in Washington DC — is finally starting to demand a say in governing, this comes far too late for my liking.

We have checks and balances for a reason. The founders understood that unchecked power in the hands of one person was a recipe for disaster, and the last couple years have shown us why. Jay Inslee is not the ruler of Washington, able to close businesses and impose gathering rules at his whim (although always hiding behind his corrupt lackeys in the health department).

If they must exist at all, emergency powers should ONLY last until the legislature tasked with creating laws can convene. These days, our officials should be able to meet online within HOURS to actually vote and legally pass laws pertaining to the emergency. This “the governor decides based on a health official he employs” isn’t the way America was designed. The founders created a system in which it was SUPPOSED to be difficult to get stuff done — that way only the most important stuff would have enough support to become law.

And make no mistake, all too often our representatives are happy to pass the buck up the chain and keep their stance out of the public eye. But having your votes in the public eye is the point! You’re forced to defend your vote to your constituents, who can then throw you out of office because of it! This is one of the checks of the system!

When the governor (or president) sidesteps these checks and balances, they are undermining the very ‘democracy’ they are claiming to defend! In the case of Washington, Jay Inslee is acting like the very tyrant he accused Trump of being for four years! But Donald Trump wasn’t the one who closed businesses and imposed rules about who we could associate with. Trump wasn’t the one who imposed a vaccine mandate that resulted in thousands of healthcare workers being fired. Donald Trump isn’t the one STILL HOLDING ONTO THAT MANDATE, more than a year after it was clear that the vaccine did not stop transmission.

So as covid mania subsides and the ‘in your face’ mandates melt away, it’s VITAL that we attack these ‘emergency powers’ loopholes everywhere, all at once. Otherwise, we’ll find ourselves facing future restrictions at the whims of the politicians, or the bureaucrats those politicians employ.

“We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing when our levels are low, and then have the ability to reach for them again should things get worse in the future,” CDC Director Walensky told reporters Feb 25.

Notice how she just assumes now that she has the power to put people back in masks? This is the government creep we must resist, and we must insist that our politicians resist it as well. Recently we have seen how government operates, insisting that it has powers it doesn’t legally have. We see now how it will sidestep the regular rule-making process, and it’s time we shut down these tyranny loopholes.

After all, if these powers are so vital to our survival, surely they will easily pass through the normal lawmaking system, right? Even the USA PATRIOT Act was passed through regular channels, surely after two years covid can be handled the same way. Anything else is ACTUALLY attacking the foundation of our democracy Republic.