Who wants to be the top Tyrant?

Open it up shut it down, whatever… We are at a time when the liberties of Americans have been thrown out the window by elected and appointed leaders all over the country. Unfortunately, at this time, most Americans appear to be just fine with the constitution being halted during the time of COVID-19.

There will be a time, hopefully soon, when citizens take an inventory of what is going on around the country. In the history of US government, things that are taken are rarely given back. Let’s take a look at the tyrannical leaders who have stood out during the crisis and remember to hold them accountable.

Looking at the governors, I don’t want to write a book and you don’t want to read one, but the list of authoritarians is far too long so a select few made the cut. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) has made the most news lately and deservedly so.

Whitmer proves once again that you cannot prove a negative, in this case, that iron-fisted rules work to tame the virus. Michigan’s outbreak of the virus, centered in Detroit, has been the most widespread outside of the New York tri-state area.

Whitmer’s response has been to instill the most draconian orders on Michiganders. Whitmer first deemed all “non-essential” items ineligible for purchase in retailers. So while you are headed to the aisle to purchase a box of Twinkies in Walmart, you absolutely cannot stop and pick up a bag of watermelon seeds to grow food in your garden or the shovel to dig the garden.

Not to outdo herself, the first-term governor outlawed travel from one house to another. Not only can you not visit friends in Michigan, you cannot visit family and you cannot visit any of the other homes/properties you have.

Whitmer’s response when asked about her newly-formed police state? The weather is going to be undesirable for a couple of weeks, so you didn’t need those rights.

In addition, abortion providers continue to operate in Michigan. Whitmer views them as essential because the abortions are saving lives. Umm, does anybody want to explain to her what an abortion entails?

Moving along, the other tyrants don’t have as long of an entry as the distinguished governor of Michigan but their egregiousness doesn’t take a back seat to anyone. Enter Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ.)

After bravely agreeing to an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the host asked Murphy about 15 grieving attendees who were arrested at the funeral of a rabbi.

“The Bill of Rights, as you well know, protects Americans’ rights — enshrines their right to practice their religion as they see fit and to congregate together to assemble peacefully,” Carlson said. “By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order? How do you have the power to do that?” Murphy answered with “that’s above my pay grade, Tucker, I wasn’t thinking of the Bill of Rights when we did this.”

The admission by the governor is a blatant admission of violating the legal oath of office he took when being sworn in as the state’s governor. This should mean that the governor must face Articles of Impeachment. In New Jersey, I won’t hold my breath.

In Kentucky, newly-minted Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, with the help of friends like Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, banned religious services. This includes the newest fad during social distancing – drive-in church services where churchgoers do nothing but sit in their cars.

Authorities followed through on Beshear’s order beginning on Easter Sunday, where pictures of license plates were taken and the citizens who had the gall to exercise their 1st Amendment rights are awaiting punishment. Here’s to hoping this doesn’t play well in the Bible belt.

Gov. Gina Raimondo (D-RI) is doing her part. Being a densely-populated New England state, the governor has focused on keeping New Yorkers out. This can mean a lot of things, but in her case this means bringing out all the guns – literally. Raimondo used her powers to send the National Guard door-to-door to find New Yorkers. Yes, let that sink in.

No respectable list of tyrants should ever be without Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA.) The fascist infanticide-supporting, blackface-wearing commonwealth leader has the innate ability to stay on course with his usual agenda and add to it. Just the other day, Northam didn’t allow a measly stay-at-home order be interruptive enough to prevent him from further encroaching on 2nd Amendment rights by signing a whole new slew of gun confiscation laws. This was after he proclaimed, way back in March, that Virginia’s stay-at-home order will be the longest in the nation. Northam’s order extended staying at home to June 10th, coincidentally the day after the state’s election primaries.

Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) has put encroaching freedom of religion and assembly at the top of his to-do list. “Sidewalk Counselors” are vital to protecting life in the pro-life movement and have become even more vital during the epidemic. Cooper has been one of the governors to deem abortion an essential procedure.

In the cities of Charlotte and Greensboro, Sidewalk Counselors were cited and arrested for violating social distancing orders. In neighboring South Carolina – where the same situation occurred and the state addressed the situation after the fact clearing this as an expression of freedom of religion – Gov. Cooper has remained silent, giving the okay to the unconstitutional enforcement.

Finally on the governor front, recognition goes to Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH.) DeWine became the second governor to issue a stay-at-home order despite having very few cases. With very few cases, DeWine still set off alarm bells in the state by announcing that the state probably had 500,000 undiagnosed cases at the time only to clarify that the total was simply a guess. A plus for DeWine, he was one of the governors with the intestinal fortitude to ban abortions, calling them non-essential.

In a quick rundown of local dictators, we will start by giving a shout-out to the large amount of law-enforcement agencies using drones to track citizens. These drones have video capability, sirens, microphones, heat sensors to detect possible fevers and all sorts of gadgets. Even more alarming is that 22 states have agencies utilizing drones from China, the US enemy who covered up this very virus that led to its rapid spread.

Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC) will always make any kind of list being a true admitted Communist in his earlier years. de Blasio not only threatened religious organizations with permanent closure if they violated stay-at-home orders, he more recently created a texting application where you can take pictures of people violating social distance orders and text them straight to the city.

Not to be outdone, Mayor Eric Garcetti (D-Los Angeles) proclaimed that “snitches get rewards” in an effort to get citizens to turn in people or business operating outside of the police state orders. Garcetti felt a need to go further, recently filling a local skate park with 37 tons of dirt to prevent gatherings.

Speaking of Los Angeles, Sheriff Alex Villanueva has done his fair share. He was the first to ban the sale of firearms in gun shops in a county that has already imposed an unconstitutional near-total ban on firearms. Many localities around the nation followed his lead shortly thereafter.

Later, in a widely viewed “showdown,” The LA Sheriff’s Department chased a lone paddle-boarder in the ocean with boats and a fleet of deputies before arresting the detriment to society. At least there was plenty of room in the jail after Villanueva released thousands of inmates due to the Coronavirus.

When a small gathering of protester descended on North Carolina’s capital, the Raleigh Police Department arrested a few and tweeted “protesting is a non-essential activity.” I’ll leave that there.

Estill, a small town in Hampton County, SC, issued a curfew early in the process. This curfew would seem self-explanatory for the town whose zip code has six confirmed COVID cases as of today, but they expanded on the order. The ordinance passed by the town council outlaws the sell or purchase of firearms or explosives and intoxicating beverages.

In Greenville, MS, the county seat of Washington where a very large percentage of citizens attend church, authorities looked to crack down again. Drive-in services were once again targeted and some citizens were arrested and others were given $500 fines in the heavily Democrat county. The Alliance Defending Freedom has now sued the town’s mayor and police for their violation of the constitution.

Believe it or not, the litany I just provided to you doesn’t even begin to cover the fundamental violation Americans’ rights. Thankfully, there are some heroes. Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) has refused to close her densely-populated state, citing the constitution, and then was attacked by those who falsely disseminate information after one essential meat-processing plant had an outbreak that had nothing to do with any kind of order.

Several sheriffs, primarily in Michigan, are also to be commended as they vowed that they will not enforce unconstitutional orders.

I’ll go back to the scariest thing. At the very least, a majority of citizens currently support the tyrannical, unconstitutional orders by those who swore an oath of office. All of this at the price of millions of Americans entering poverty and the issues that entails. As Gov. Noem recently said: Americans have “given up rights for a little bit of security.” Ultimately, people have to use their own reasoning skills and provide for their own security.

 

Preston Baines is a Political and Policy Consultant from Chapin. He can be reached at @prestonbaines on Twitter and prestonbaines@gmail.com.

 

 

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