Fear of government

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, governors didn't hesitate to claim and use emergency powers. Although I have seen states of emergency declared in the past, this was different. The powers used far exceeded anything I previously saw from emergency powers, and many governors resisted ceding this power.

It seems like I have to be missing something. Here in Washington, it seems like all Inslee had to do to obtain nearly unlimited power was to simply claim it. Where were the checks and balances? Inslee was actively abusing this power, and we were helpless to do anything about it.

As an example of abuse of power, look at how protests were handled. When freedom-loving Washingtonians protested Inslee's authoritarian approach to handling the pandemic, Democrats were quick to insist that constitutional rights did not apply during an emergency. After the death of George Floyd, they completely reversed course and established guidelines for protests. The Democrats managed to establish that whether or not citizens have a right to peacefully assemble is contingent on the support of the party in a position of power. This completely undermines the intent of the first amendment.

Things became worse once the vaccine was rolled out. Even before the FDA approved the vaccine beyond emergency usage, governors around the country, who had previously cast doubt on the vaccine, mandated that many workers had to vaccinate in order to keep their jobs. They also started rolling out mandates to privately owned businesses. Just to live your lives, you were required to carry around medical records. Our government managed to convince private citizens to push the message of, "Your papers, please."

The scariest part of the pandemic was neither the virus not the disease caused by the virus. It was the unchecked power that authoritarian leaders can claim. We have deprived citizens of rights and freedoms based on a desire for our government to silence dissent. We also set a dangerous precedent. Inslee definitely crossed lines that he should not have been allowed to cross, but we really don't have anything to prevent stronger overreach the next time we give our governor an excuse to claim an insane amount of power.