This photo made available by the U.S. National Archives shows a portion of the United States Constitution with Articles V-VII. For the past two centuries, constitutional amendments have originated in Congress, where they need the support of two-thirds of both houses, and then the approval of at least three-quarters of the states. But under a never-used second prong of Article V, amendments can originate in the states. (National Archives via AP)
The funny part about this Wuhan virus pandemic — and by funny I mean ridiculous funny and not “haha” funny — is that many people in the media seem to be just now wrapping their heads around the fact that the federal government isn’t supposed to be the ultimate ruler of the American citizenry.
While D.C. does contain the highest offices in the land, the chosen way by which we govern America is by Federalism, or the states ruling themselves. It’s a pretty ingenious system that prevents monarchies or oligarchies from developing and ruling over us despotically.
Hilariously, the media seems to be angry that President Donald Trump isn’t ruling like this during the Wuhan virus pandemic, which is odd, especially coming from a group of people who complain that Trump can’t be trusted with power, and even complain from time to time that he’s a dictator.
Complaints have been firing off from the left about Trump’s inability to rule with an iron fist or, at the very least, seize the opportunity to set the same rules for every state. Recently, AP News author Claire Galofaro wrote a piece titled “US life with COVID-19: A state-by-state patchwork of rules.”
In the article, Galofaro complained that it’s a confusing time as some states have hard and fast rules about where people can and can’t gather, and some states don’t:
As the nation struggles to reconcile itself to a new and spreading peril, it also struggles with a patchwork of rules that vary dizzyingly from place to place: For now, your life and lockdown in the shadow of COVID-19 depends on where you live.
In some places, many ordinary Americans are making public health choices, searching their own conscience and deciding for themselves what risk they’re willing to endure. In others, government has made at least some of those decisions.
Ohio canceled its presidential primary to avoid crowds, but the polls opened Tuesday morning in Florida, Illinois and Arizona. Bars in some states prepared for hordes of St. Patrick’s Day revelers, while elsewhere others are stacking the stools up on tables and locking the doors.
Casinos in some states have shut down, yet others remain open, where hundreds or even thousands of people touch the same slot machines and gambling chips. Spring breakers are partying by the hundreds on some beaches, while police are sweeping others, ordering people away through loud speakers.
It seemed to come as a complete failure of Trump’s that he hasn’t developed an iron fist to rule by.
Yesterday, Daily Beast Editor-at-Large Molly Jong-Fast tweeted: “So the states are basically governing themselves because our president doesn’t know how to president at all?”
So the states are basically governing themselves because our president doesn’t know how to president at all?
— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) March 16, 2020
I highlight this because I think it’s important to see two things. What the left wants, and what the left doesn’t understand the fundamental framework of our country.
The left is completely on board with despotism, they just don’t get that they are. They would be completely fine with the overarching rule of their lives if it’s for a good cause. If they feel that it would save lives, then they’re completely on board with being forced into quarantine.
Furthermore, they don’t seem to understand that, in America, statist rule from D.C. is a non-starter. They can definitely make laws that affect our lives, but if total control were an option, then we would have had our rights stripped from us years ago, given back, and taken again.
In America, the states rule the states and whether or not the left knows it, this is a good thing. They may love the leftist “paradise” of California and hate the freedom-loving red state that is Texas. Should someone with Texas values become elected in their fantasy world, then the entire country would become Texas-like. As fun as a scenario that is for freedom-loving Americans to imagine, it would be wholly rejected by the left. Lucky (or maybe unlucky if we’re being realistic) for them, the left doesn’t have to worry about having Texas values forced on them thanks to the Federalism we have in place.
They can live peacefully in California with their homeless drug addict and feces filled paradise, while feeling good about their decisions to make it so, without molestation from a Texan leader with a mind to clean things up.
I fantasize, but I don’t want a Texan forcing Texan values on anyone. It’s not the Texan way anyhow. The point is, however, that we live in a land where a state can make its own rules and we all like it that way whether we all vocalize it or not.
There is no throne, nor should there be.
