In the hours after the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, photographs were released of politicians who have been enforcing unconstitutional, unevidenced, and unscientific mandates against their constituents. Justifiably, people became extremely angry, demanding answers from these leaders who sit upon their ivory towers, demanding that we follow mandates that have proven, time and time again, to be totally and completely ineffective in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

To add insult to injury, these leaders, like Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, preyed upon the stupidity of their supporters, offering explanations that could only be believed by people with a combined IQ of that of a bowl of oatmeal. After being exposed in a maskless photo with Lakers’ great Magic Johnson (who by the way is at an increased risk of COVID due to his HIV diagnosis), Newsom suggested that he had only taken the mask off for the picture. As is the case with most things that exit Newsom’s pie-hole, that statement turned out to be total garbage, as other pictures were shown of him sitting in his stadium seat, maskless.

Garcetti’s excuse was equally stupid, as he suggested that he only removed his mask in order to take pictures, during which time he held his breath, so that he could allegedly significantly reduce his chances of being infected or spreading infection.  This of course proved to be garbage, as many other pictures of him sans mask were released.

In the wake of that game, California officials announced they were eliminating the statewide ban on masks effective February 16th, 2022. Was there any data offered to justify the change?  Of course not. Only that they believed that COVID no longer posed a threat to anything other than their own freedoms.  Despite the lifting of the statewide order, Los Angeles County has chosen to keep the mask mandate — despite, again, that evidence is now clear (and has been for quite some time) that masks do nothing to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19.

Imagine my surprise when my children’s school announced that despite the lifting of the mask mandate for everyone else, schools were to remain masked indefinitely. That’s right… As leaders shrugged off their own responsibility to mask, under the directive of their own issued mandates, they decree that children and teachers must remain masked, despite the total lack of any evidence or scientific proof that masks are slowing the spread in schools.

This hypocrisy isn’t lost on our children. My 12-year-old son, who in recent weeks has been required to play basketball games in masks (as well as practices, despite a mandate that everyone in the building is vaccinated), is livid that he has to continue to wear masks, while our leaders gallivant in scenes that could only be found in The Hunger Games.  Even this morning, a good friend of mine had their child refuse to wear a mask at school, as long as California’s elected officials continue to believe they are above their own mandates. This refusal earned them a trip to the principal’s office.

What our leaders are doing is engaging in what can only be described as psychological abuse. While many of us have sat by and allowed them to do it to us, demanding that a different standard… one which has not resulted in any lower transmission, hospitalization, or death rates for children…. be applied to these kids, while these children watch these leaders engage in behavior that earns them trips to the principal, is unequivocally abuse.

While we could never expect the feckless and impotent leaders of either our school districts or the various social welfare organizations to stand up for our children and against this abuse, we must step in to take action ourselves. I plan on organizing civil disobedience to prevent this from occurring anymore.  Beginning this week, I intend to organize mass civil disobedience action against the mandates at my children’s school. Enough is enough. The “return to normal” will be on our terms, not theirs.