John McCroskey Commentary: Hypocrisy on Display by Gov’t Leaders Who Ignore Their Own Edicts

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We’ve surrendered way too much power over our lives to politicians, and it’s pretty clear they really don’t have our best interest most of the time.

In the case of COVID-19, our governor has acted like a dictator under the guise of some limitless “emergency” powers. I’d not really object if it went on for the promised two weeks just to “flatten the curve,”  but we’re now around the two-year mark and there has been no letup or interest in debating with our elected representatives on other options, much less giving that power up.

Of course he’s not alone. A number of largely blue state governors (and in some cases mayors) have acted similarly.

With all their self-righteous preaching to the rest of us, impacts on our lives and jobs, and endless freeway signs reading “save lives, stay home,” it wouldn’t be too much to expect them to live under those rules too, would it?

But we all know many haven’t.

In fact, at least three of the most liberal dictators demanding their constituents do as they say were on full display during the San Francisco 49ers versus the Los Angeles Rams championship game last Sunday at SoFi Field in Los Angeles. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (who has been caught before), Mayor Eric Garcetti from Los Angeles, and San Francisco mayor London Breed were all caught during the game in violation of their mandates. Mayor Breed also had been caught before at a party and seemed miffed to be asked about it. In fact, she said it was the spirit of the music and having a good time. She also said she and her other party goers “don’t need the fun police to come in and micromanage and tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing.”

I guess she thinks we do.

There were other celebrities on the fan cam on occasion but they weren’t mandating masks in their jurisdictions — just being the typical Hollywood hypocrites.

In addition to the respective government edicts the politicians ordered, they were in violation of the SoFi Stadium policy, which reads in part “masks are required for all attendees” and can only be removed to actively eat or drink and must immediately be put back on.

But in most cases nothing will happen to them, unlike the small businesses (such as Spiffy’s and Mackinaw’s locally and others) they crushed using the unlimited power of government, which are just speed bumps to their power.

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And now that we’ve suffered lockdowns and had our lives upended for a couple years, here comes a report from Johns Hopkins about the results many thought were true nearly two years ago; it was ineffective and caused more harm than good.



Johns Hopkins concluded locking people down had no noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality, but had a “devastating effect on economies and numerous social ills.” It also concluded “they have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence and undermining liberal democracy.”

We’re only now getting the sense of what it set school students back, and I’m sure if we continue to allow the teachers unions’ leadership to be involved in policy, it will just get worse.

Johns Hopkins further concluded, “lockdowns are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.” 

I sure wish the smartest people in our government (overpaid and clearly over their head) had figured this out sooner. But hey, no matter what pain these liberal bureaucrats cause us, it didn’t and doesn’t cost them a red cent, nor will it in the current politics in Washington, D.C.

Maybe not every expert to disagree with the official government position on COVID-19 is a crackpot after all.

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A couple weeks back, I wrote about some of the stupidity we see in the news everyday. Since then, a couple more of the same has popped up; first the mayor of San Jose has plans to force gun owners to purchase liability insurance and pay an annual gun harm reduction fee for the right to own a gun. This is important for two reasons. The first is it does nothing to criminals who commit crimes, only law abiding citizens exercising a right.

And as much as liberals hate guns and the Second Amendment, they also love releasing violent criminals back on the street, if they charge them at all. We’re seeing cases like that all over the country. But it’s not the soft on crime attitude or the other liberal blather, it’s owning a gun to defend yourself from the same nuts who want to defund the police and turn out criminals to prey on citizens.

The San Jose mayor’s hope in doing this is that other places will follow and do the same thing.  Washington has a lot of mayors, and a governor, who think the same way.

Good guys with guns are the problem, not the criminals they don’t prosecute or set free.

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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.