Over the past few days, we’ve seen near non-stop gnashing of teeth, especially on social media and in the press, about Texas daring to provide their residents some level of basic freedom. In claims reminiscent of the “just wait two weeks” idiocy that was so popular last year in regards to attacking Florida, we are now being assured that mass death is just around the corner.

Yesterday, Beto O’Rourke provided the most hysterical take on the situation, proclaiming that anyone supporting Gov. Greg Abbott’s lifting of the state’s mask mandate was part of a cult of death, upending civilization as we know it (see Noted Furry Beto O’Rourke Supplies the Dumbest, Most Hysterical Take on Texas Reopening). In other words, the takes have been hot and incredibly stupid. They’ve also been backed by no actual data nor introspection on the fact that prior doomsday predictions in regards to Florida, among others, have fallen flat.

Greg Gutfeld responded to those setting their hair on fire for obviously partisan reasons, blasting them on The Five. In the process, he nails the big issue at play here, at least in my opinion.

‘No Skin In The Game’: Greg Gutfeld Bashes Leaders, Media For Exempting Themselves And Attacking Texas https://t.co/ez404F0yDL

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 4, 2021

The video is at the link above, but I’ll provide the relevant excerpts. In response to Joe Biden calling Texans “Neanderthals” for lifting COVID restrictions, Gutfeld notes that this is what Democrats always do.

“What a surprise, though, it’s always about people with Democrats, you are deplorable, you’re unsalvageable, you’re a Neanderthal, probably a white supremacist guilty of white privilege … They only smear populations,” Gutfeld replied. “We focus people — on the actual individuals, we don’t go after Biden voters, right? Or Californians.”

This is exactly right. The Democrat go-to move is to claim that anyone who disagrees with this is somehow intellectually inferior and unworthy of consideration. That obviously played out most vividly in regards to Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” commentary from 2016, but such trashing of Trump supporters (and anyone who disagrees with left-wing ideology) has become commonplace. We’ve seen everything from pushes for full-scale outlawing of certain speech to demands for “truth commissions” to punish Trump associates.

After that, Gutfeld made it to the biggest issue at play.

“But here’s the issue with people like Joe Biden and those clones, you can’t win against the ‘wait until it’s 100% safe’ argument,” Gutfeld continued. “We saw this coming, we knew this because leaders and the media both have no skin in this game. They have jobs, they have exemptions and kids in private schools and tutors. They can go on forever and it will be just great.

His description of having “no skin in this game” describes almost every blue state governor and the federal government as they refuse to move forward because they are too paralyzed by fear they may be held accountable. These people are cowards, willing to let people live in agony, continuing to force them to do things that show precious little correlation to results, in order to protect their own political futures. That’s why Biden bowed to the teachers unions despite more than enough scientific and observed evidence that schools are safe to reopen.

Further, these same naysayers, lecturing Texas on the dangers of not wearing face diapers and letting people eat in restaurants, have the resources to live their lives mostly as they please. They can afford the private schools and the high charge of delivery for food every night while their social circles still function. There’s no urgency because they live in a bubble, glaring down at the little people as they get priority access to vaccinations.

Normal people can’t live like that. They have jobs, children to think of, and lives to lead. Locking themselves away in perpetuity is not an option, and those that suggest it is have conveniently inoculated themselves from the repercussions of such restrictions. What Texas is doing is what every state should be doing. People deserve to make their own choices, and the government simply doesn’t have the power to continue this charade.