Letters to the editor can be submitted to news@chronline.com.
I am proud to support Sheriff Rob Snaza in his efforts to reassure citizens that he will not use his arrest powers to force residents in Lewis County to follow the governor’s poorly thought out mask mandate.
One of the tenets upon which our nation was founded is questioning how much power any one individual may possess.
It’s why our state and federal governments are designed with checks and balances to ensure that no one branch can appropriate power not delegated to them by the governed.
In declared emergencies however, the usual process of governance is suspended, and power is virtually vested in one person, the governor. This creates a potential hazard to democracy based on the moral fiber of the person elected to that position. The concern many of us have is that Governor Inslee is abusing his emergency powers for political gain.
Washington Revised Code (RCW) 43.06.220 controls what emergency powers the Governor has and also what time limitations such orders are subject to. Some emergency orders may only last 30 days unless the leaders of the State Senate and State Legislature consent to the continuation of the emergency powers.
Others, such as the mask mandate, are not time-limited or subject to the consent of a co-equal branch of government. Whether this is a flaw in the law depends on how long the emergency powers persist and is something everyone should be considering right now.
If Inslee continues his emergency orders right up to the November election, he would be intentionally limiting his gubernatorial competitor’s campaign events. Inslee, as an “emergency governor,” however, would still get free weekly televised press conferences at taxpayer expense.
As our sheriff pointed out, we have been under emergency powers for over 100 days. How much longer is an acceptable suspension of regular government? Both The Chronicle and Republican legislative leaders have repeatedly called for a special session of the legislature, all of which have been rejected by the governor. Ask yourself why? Could it be that the governor, who is facing a $9 billion budget deficit, would be required to propose new and higher taxes prior to the election?
The age-old saying “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” applies here, and we, as citizens, must be vigilant to keep democracy from devolving into tyranny. In places like Seattle we are already seeing it turn into anarchy. As we approach our Independence Day, consider what you are truly celebrating. Remember “the course of human events” and the “usurpations” of a certain King. For those of you who scoff at these ideas, I ask you: Would you feel the same if it were Donald Trump wielding extraordinary emergency powers right now? If you answered no to that question, you might need to re-evaluate your partisan bias against your ideals of democracy.
Christopher Vandenberg
Chehalis
