Viruses don’t discriminate based on politics, but many Democratic governors and mayors sure seem to do so.
Democratic leaders’ sudden about-face in response to the protests, rioting and looting that have followed the tragic killing of George Floyd proves that their earlier condescending condemnations of anti-lockdown protesters were motivated primarily, if not entirely, by rank partisanship.
When state and local leaders first began issuing stay-at-home orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic, we were told that the lockdowns were necessary to “flatten the curve” and to prevent our health care system from being overwhelmed.
We appear to have largely achieved that goal—albeit at a staggering cost, as more than 40 million Americans were forced to file for unemployment benefits and businesses have required hundreds of billions of dollars in federal assistance to avoid bankruptcy.
Instead of easing the painful restrictions and striving to reopen America, many Democratic mayors and governors, infuriatingly, sought to extend them even further—sometimes in open defiance of the First Amendment and always in open defiance of the concerns expressed by ordinary citizens desperate to be allowed to go back to work and live their lives.
Boris Epshteyn – Newsweek – June 12, 2020.
