Yesterday, the far right leaning Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the Stay-At-Home order issued by Democrat Governor, Tony Eavers. This ruling left no standing plan for the state regarding reopening and left counties and municipalities to make decisions on their own.
Telling of the politicization of the pandemic, the ruling was on partisan lines with one conservative judge descending from the majority stating the following:
This decision will undoubtedly go down as one
of the most blatant examples of judicial activism in this court’s
history. And it will be Wisconsinites who pay the price.
Justice Rebecca Frank
Justice Frank also stated that “legislating a new policy from the bench exceeds the constitutional role of this court”, meaning: the conservative court is legislating from the bench, something many of the radical right have been touting liberal judges for decades.
Mixed Messages Lead to Lack of Leadership
In mid-April the White House released Guidelines for states and regions (also noted on NPR) which it labeled “Opening Up America Again”. Though no state has met the criteria outlined in the guidelines (including Wisconsin), it seems many are simply pushing for a relaxing of restrictions. This is both reckless and irresponsible as outlined by the White House Guidelines.
So what is the justification of the reckless “reopening” of states amid a pandemic that has not yet quelled? And why are many backers of President Trump ignoring the guidelines set up by the White House itself? My opinion: Greed.
Yes, all of us would rather be able to go to a ballpark, restaurant, concert, or just socialize the way we did only a few months ago. But most understand that this behavior could lead, not to just us catching the virus, but to us passing it on to others. It’s one thing to take our own life into your hands, but to flagrantly disregard the lives of others is irresponsible. But some look past this and only see that their right to freedom is being denied. I think Thomas Jefferson placed Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness in that order for a reason. Life is the most basic of these, and if expressing my liberty puts someone else in danger for their life, then my liberty should be curtailed to the point that I am not endangering someones life.
When we put our own happiness above others’ lives, we act out of greed.
Unfortunately the leadership guiding the United States at this crucial time seams to be inept at best, but leaning towards incompetence. During the Great Depression, and World War II we had great leaders who inspired us and lead us to give up creature comforts. We made sacrifices great and small. Perhaps that’s why that generation was called “Great”. Today we have a president who talks about greatness, but does little to inspire a nation to do great things. The message from the White House seems to contradict itself from one day to the next, and much of the time going against the advice of experts that server the nation.
White House Guidelines
I suppose we should look at the guidelines the White House put out to see if they are reasonable or too restrictive in nature. Here’s a rough outline of the Guidelines.
Before Proceeding with Phased Opening
- Symptoms – Should be downward trending for a 14 day period for both influenza type symptoms and COVID-19 type symptoms
- Cases – There should be a downward trend in documented cases or percentage of positive tests
- Hospitals – Treating all patients without crisis care, and robust testing of all at-risk healthcare workers including emerging antibody testing
These are the guidelines the White House came out with that were supposed to lead us through the pandemic, but as the administration has done nothing to prepare a nation for this endeavor, what could have been a great coming together of the citizenry has become a dysfunctional patchwork of incompetence.
There’s not enough testing in place.
A system for contact tracing has not been set up.
States and communities are bidding against one another for medical supplies.
The United States is woefully unprepared for opening up again, and the responsibility for this falls squarely on the current executive administration.
In the face of this pandemic, with a void in the leadership of the nation, dysfunctional communication about the reality of the situation, and a segment of the population too arrogant to curtail it’s greed, we can look forward to an upcoming year of crisis.
