More of a rant than I meant

Just wear the mask. I am sick of hearing it.

You want me to wear a mask, fine. Convince me that's it's the right thing to do. Do not order me to do it. We have representatives who represent us who are supposed to decide what people should and should not do. We are not supposed to be commanded from on high by any one person *cough* Governor Whitmer, *cough* Governor Cuomo *cough* several other governors who think they're God's gift. That's not how a Republic works.

And stop the shaming too, please. Because I want everyone at risk dead. I want everyone over 80 dead. I want every teacher dead and everyone on the front lines dead. There now: have you got the venom out of your system? Because if you really believe I want all that, we have a problem with one another which runs far deeper than whether either one of us ought to mask up.

My trouble with the whole mask thing is the same trouble I have with almost anything else COVID related anymore. It's been more than five months and it's patently obvious the virus isn't the terrible threat our Fearless Leaders want us to believe. It's time to ratchet down that rhetoric. One big way in which we can do that is to let the legislators do what they, not governors or courts, are supposed to do: legislate.

If you don't want that to happen because - gasp - they might not do what you think is best for the body politic, then I say with all due respect you're part of the problem. I will say, again with all due respect, you're petty little dictators yourselves. I hope you are not, because such an attitude is risking all of us getting a dictator. Pray tell, what will you then say when that dictator commands you to do something you don't like? Will he even let you speak?

At one time we may have had to tolerate it. But it's time to stop leading by executive order. The threat, such as it is, does not require it.

Dictating from the White House

President Barack Obama has leapt into action. He has issued executive orders and executive actions requiring tougher fuel efficiency standards for trucks. strengthening the U.S. patent system, and signed an executive order intended to speed up the process for approving import or export cargo. He will do other things, he promises, to bypass an uncooperative Congress. Mr Obama has also dallied with the minimum wage.

Shades of Obamacare. When the President doesn't get what he wants, he pulls whatever lever he can to get it, democracy be damned.

Defenders of the Chief Executive say that it's simply to get some movement on key issues, and that they're small measures anyway. They won't effect many. We will even add to his defense ourselves by allowing that other Presidents have issued executive orders when they felt a need, and that Mr. Obama was freely elected. He's doing nothing save serving the folks who put him in office.

Well, and we probably shouldn't go for the easy pitch here, Hitler was democratically elected. Did he have the best interests of the German people in mind? Beyond that admittedly (hopefully) extreme hyperbole, when a President seems to be getting nothing done because of Congress, and that Congress (elected more directly by the people than he was and representing a broader electorate) then it strikes us that the people don't want what he's offering. Seeing as Obamacare is decidedly unpopular, we are left to wonder whether a president who really had the will of the people in mind would have magnanimously went along with its repeal. Yet he forced that through with parliamentary gamesmanship, and now threatens extensive use of the executive order.

This is not leadership. It is however dictatorial. Small issues can become large rather quickly, and a power once used is easy to expand. If the President gets comfortable with this plan of action, it is not difficult to imagine him becoming emboldened and expanding his orders into other areas. Yes, we're arguing the slippery slope. Yes, we know that Barack Obama has issued fewer executive orders than many other Presidents, including his predecessor. But seeing as our current Chief has demonstrated a willingness to do whatever he wishes for whatever he wants, his actions are disconcerting.

This is not a President. This is a community organizer bossing everyone around. How do you like them apples, comrade?