Read on Twitter
I keep thinking about why Gov. Little hasn’t issued a mask mandate. He’s a smart guy, has good advisors. I assume he’s a moral person, too. So I’ve just assumed he’s being pragmatic. He knows if he issued a mandate or another statewide lockdown 1/
he’ll lose the next election, or he’ll face a recall from the far right. Perhaps he also suspects this is what the far right, heavily armed and gunning for a fight, wants him to do so that they can justify violence, which could ostensibly 2/
lead to bloodshed and an escalation of serious tensions already brewing here. He doesn’t want to concede his spot to someone further right, nor does he want to be in a position of having to quell disturbances from the far right. And there is the difficult matter of 3/
enforcement. If most of your spread is from small gatherings, mandating masks and enforcing them publicly may give you little bang for your buck. And he’s been given no cover at the federal level to take action; quite the opposite. 4/
Still, something is wrong here, no? These are all justifiable decisions, they are reasoned, I understand them. I know where I live, I know what the politics are here. But isn’t it a slippery slope to allow the loudest and most heavily armed among us dictate policy? 5/
How can you claim to have reasoned debate or democratic process or good decision making when one side is loaded down with terrible misinformation and unaware self-righteousness and threatening weaponry, and the other side cowers and appeases? 6/
I’m not asking for anyone to start a civil war here, or to speak for or represent the left. Again, I know where I live. But what about the moderates and everyday folks who just want things to make sense? What about the people dying while they are jeered at and dismissed? 7/
What about essential workers and healthcare workers and teachers and parents and students? Why are they the ones who must beg for help and civility and understanding? Why are we the ones begging at all? 8/
