Rules are for the little guys. The pigs in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” who control the government put it another way: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
Like many, I find myself amused but not surprised by some of the politicians who have no interest in following their own mandated Covid-19 restrictions. There are plenty of examples and Jason Riley chronicled just a few of them in the Wall Street Journal a little over a week ago:
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi violated lockdown orders to get their hair done, which sounds like something a Kardashian would do. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney sneaked out of state to dine at a restaurant in neighboring Maryland because eateries back home were closed to indoor customers. When Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of her staff traveled to Delaware to celebrate Joe Biden’s presidential victory, they violated Covid quarantine requirements. And Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who tweeted in July that “wearing masks in public should be mandatory,” has been spotted several times in public not wearing a mask while she was indoors and chatting face to face with others.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was caught dining indoors with lobbyists at a restaurant in violation of his own pandemic rules for the state. And in New York, which has recorded more coronavirus deaths than any other state, public outrage finally forced Gov. Andrew Cuomo to disinvite his 89-year-old mother and two adult daughters from Thanksgiving dinner in Albany.
There are a number of other examples. One of my favorites was the mayor of Denver who told folks to stay at home for Thanksgiving. Amazingly, just 30 minutes after he sent a reminder to stay at home tweet the mayor boarded a flight to Mississippi for a family gathering.
It reminds me of the infamous term “limousine liberal,” which dates back to 1969 when Democrat Mario Procaccino coined the term against his liberal Republican opponent John Lindsay in the New York City mayor’s race. Lindsay was the wealthy incumbent who had multiple degrees from Yale and was famous for all kinds of social justice issues and rants. Lindsay was woke before the term “woke” existed. Obviously, people like Lindsay can tap their power and money to insulate themselves from the consequences of their proposals. Procaccino had the support of the working class and vanishing middle class of New York City, while Lindsay was much more popular with the elite and poor. Lindsay soon changed parties and made an unsuccessful bid for the Democrat presidential nomination in 1972. At any rate, “limousine liberals” are prone to preach things like climate taxes while they fly on their private jets or gun control while they have private armed security.
We saw some of this hypocrisy on a grand scale in North Carolina and the nation when massive crowds were applauded by many in the media and some in power for protesting and even rioting or looting during Covid lockdowns. Yet, many small businesses were shuttered or faced crippling restrictions by executive order.
All of us are hypocritical to some degree. We’re humans. Still, the politicians often have an innate ability to rub their hypocrisy right in our nose. Just as concerning are the people who want to give them even more power. For me, that’s what I find the most galling.
