Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis told Colorado Public Radio on Thursday that his state’s citizens no longer need to wear masks. He is lifting the mandate that suffocated freedom in the once-red state, and now is saying that health officials stepped beyond their bounds.
It was a classic political move: When the heat in the kitchen gets too hot, blame one of the other cooks.
He never apologized for violating peoples’ rights or infringing on their freedom of movement or right to make their own decisions. Instead, he “followed the science” and Coloradoans folded like a cheap lawn chair:
Our top goal is always to follow the science, and there was a time when there was no vaccine, and masks were all we had and we needed to wear them and Colorado stepped up, which was great.
And there is little doubt that when the next “emergency” occurs, and “science” says how the people should behave, Polis’ actions have set a precedent.
Said Polis:
[The mask mandate that I ordered is] the kind of thing that I … didn’t hesitate to do in the emergency.
And then he stepped away from taking responsibility:
You know, public health officials don’t get to tell people what to wear. I mean, that’s just not their job.
But when there’s an “emergency,” that IS their job, said Polis:
When you’re in an emergency situation, public health would say to always wear a mask … but you don’t tell people to wear a jacket when they go out in winter and force them to. If they get frostbite, it’s their own darn fault.
Then came the accusation. Those who have chosen not to get vaccinated are to blame:
If you haven’t been vaccinated, that’s your choice. I respect that. But it’s your fault when you’re in the hospital with COVID….
It’s almost like they made a deliberate decision not to get vaccinated.
And the reason? Those who chose to risk their lives and the lives of everyone around them by not getting vaccinated are getting their information from an “alternative misinformation universe”:
There are people that believe you and I are part of some massive conspiracy. Some of them believe there is no COVID; some of them believe the vaccine doesn’t work; some believe the vaccine has serious side effects.
The truth is, they’re in their own bubble, and it’s very hard to penetrate.
This is how tyrants such as Polis justify their illegal and unconstitutional actions: Anyone opposed, no matter how sound the reasons, are brushed off as conspiratorialists, or worse.
Eric Boehm, writing in Reason, wrote about visiting Denver recently, noting the “absurdity” of the mask mandates:
In Denver, for example, masks are required indoors, even for vaccinated individuals. That means you have to engage in the nonsensical bit of COVID theater in which you don a mask to walk from the front door of a brewery to the bar, then remove it to eat, drink, and socialize in close proximity with other people.
If my experience visiting the city earlier this month was any indication, most people go along with the mandate but roll their eyes at the absurdity of it all, if you ask.
Will they “roll their eyes” the next time the powers-that-be declare that there’s another “emergency,” and just go along with the next illegal and illogical mandate? Or will they see with their own eyes the “absurdity of it all” and disregard it and make their own decisions?
