Anybody who knows me, knows there is very rarely a point where I have no words. This is one of those times.
Scrolling through the news this morning, I came across some new Covid-19 restrictions for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was more of the same that we have seen for months now, no big gatherings, no out of state travel and all of that seems pretty average at this point. Then I came across an executive order from the state of Oregon.
According to the order put forth by Governor Kate Brown, any person caught with more than 6 people at Thanksgiving dinner can be fined $1,250 and spend 30 days in jail. Like any rational human, I laughed at this, thinking it was an Onion article or something. I was shocked to see that this was 100% true.
Knowing that this is real I have a few questions. First one is, really? The state that just decriminalized all drugs, is going to tell people they can’t gather as a family for Thanksgiving? Seems like opposing views to me. As for the drug thing, I agree with it. But when you couple that with throwing people in jail for getting together with family, it just reeks of hypocrisy.
Speaking of hypocrisy, Oregon is the state that would not do anything to those gathering in massive numbers to protest police brutality in the midst of the pandemic. Again, I agree with that stance. People have every right to protest, and the government has no ability to stop it. Oregon allowed this for months, and now they’re saying anyone who comes together for a meal, will be thrown in jail.
And let’s get to the jail issue. Didn’t they decriminalize drugs so less people will go to jail? Now we are going to throw people who just get together with their families in jail? As for jail itself, isn’t that a mass gathering of people in a confined space? People are going to be punished for “potentially spreading” Covid, by putting them somewhere where they are in closer contact with more people. That makes a great deal of sense, doesn’t it?
All of these new restrictions are coming from a group of people who routinely call our current president a fascist. Let me preface this by saying, I have no use for Trump. He is a character that won over a lot of people who were angry. But, he most certainly doesn’t have a fascist take on this one. I ask those who call Trump a fascist to take a look at fascism through history. Locking people up for doing getting together with their family is one of the most fascist things one can conceive of.
This is insanity. As a country we have collectively lost our minds. All of us. With no acceptions. Left, right, center, rich, poor, young and old. The craziness of this pandemic has removed common sense from our vocabulary. Whether it be the left telling us to hide in our houses for the rest of our lives because the virus is going to kill us, or the right saying it is nothing and do nothing. We can’t let these extreme ideas rid us of our common sense.
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