As I write this, it is just a few days since Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had her hair done at a salon that was closed by order of the government as part of the covid-19 lockdown. They opened up just for Mrs Pelosi.
This is not the only example of our leaders violating the rules that they impose on the rest of us. Presidential candidate Joe Biden had a television appearance in which he conspicuously stood about 10 feet away from the host, Anderson Cooper ... until they broke for a commerical and he thought the cameras were off, when he walked over to Cooper and whispered in his ear. Barrack Obama was on a golf course just a few days before his wife went on the radio telling all citizens that they were only permitted to leave home for "essential" reasons, like buying food or getting medical care. While gatherings of more than 10 people were banned throughout the country, hundreds of political leaders nevertheless attended the funeral of Senator John Lewis, and gave eulogies that sounded a lot like political speeches. See the photo. Note how carefully the politicians are all observing laws about wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
My first thought is that this is the typical hypocrisy of our political leaders. Laws are for the peasants. Just obviously you can't expect the elites to obey these rules. They aree far too important to get bogged down by all these little rules.
But they are not simply hypocrites. They are liars. If they really believed that these rules were necessary to protect health and life, they wouldn't be using their power and privilege to break them. If the politicians really thought that going to a funeral could result in them dying a horrible death, do you think they would have broken the law to do it? You wouldn't have been able to drag them into that church!
Whatever your opinion about the value of these rules, it is painfully obvious that the politicians who made these laws don't believe they do a thing to protect public health. The purpose of the rules is to increase their own power and their own egos by letting them lord it over the common people, and to advance their political agendas. And if you don't believe that, then explain to me why Nancy Pelosi risked her life to get a haircut.
© 2020 by Jay Johansen
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