By Matthew Gervais
How many hits off the constitution is too many? One. Exactly one hit is too many when one rolls up civil liberty into a Castro sized blunt, takes a massive hit, and blows the smoke into the innocent faces of the ‘Michgian Families’ one repeatedly uses as a trigger to justify usurping power, banning commerce, and acting like a tyrant in general.
As a Michigan resident, unless you have been living under a Petoskey stone, you must know of ‘the champion of those who do not even know they need a champion and regardless of whether or not they would like a champion’ Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her assault on essential liberty in order to provide temporary safety. Literally.
And I am not even directly referencing the Coronavirus (A.K.A Covid-19, A.K.A. The ‘Rona, A.K.A The reason everyone has lost their minds), this is just par for the course. You see, while we are trained from birth to look at the distraction and believe that all cause comes before effect, I prefer patterns. Patterns do not lie. Patterns have no motives. Patterns will never be up for a VP nomination.
A virus is not why Gretchen Whitmer grabbed at power and chucked civil liberty into a psychedelic bong like a stoner after an eight hour shift with no edibles. She did it because she is a tyrant. A dictator. She takes power that is not hers and uses it to force choices on people against their will. Consistently, and always at the drop of a hat. It is apparent in her actions, and can be seen in other branches of her administration. Namely the MRA. The director of which, a Whitmer appointee, has basically made a career out of not listening to reason, expertise, or the constitution, and forcing ridiculous rules on the Michigan marijuana world all in the name of ‘health’ and ‘safety’. Same rag. Same overreach. Same leadership.
The pattern revealed itself in the first year of her administration. Rick Snyder, a man who received the reputation of being anything from an incompetent child to a maniacal racist all because Flint politicians suck at, well, everything, levied a total of fifteen Executive Directives in his eight years of office. Fifteen times his lordship felt the need to issue directives. Jerk, right? Whitmer hit that number in year one, no Corona. In realistic prob and stat terms that puts her on course to eight times the Executive Directives of Snyder. Or in Covid-19 era prob and stat, two million times more. The fun, corrupt, little hypocritical cherry on top is that her first directive was aimed directly at what happened with Flint, in which she demands government transparency in times of crisis. This from the person who just used a crisis to suspended the Freedom of Information Act, then tried to give out a no bid contract to an organization with ties to her party to track the virus that she is using to grant herself emergency power.
The patterns are next noticed in how the state has handled ‘The Black Market!’ (insert shocking murder mystery music). While the Queen has left this untouched, Sheriff Brisbo of Nottingham was appointed to do it for her, presumably so she could maintain her pro pot image and continue to receive B+ ratings from the likes of MiNORML and other ‘politically unbiased’ marijuana groups. The good sheriffs ideas for combating the pre-existing cultivators and caregivers, now deemed dew rag wearing ‘nine’ touting criminals for being priced out of the market by his rules, fall nothing short of tyrannical. From union agreements, to access to all contract data, Whitmer’s MRA has torn through constitutionality and completely disregarded liberty at almost every step, all while fighting a false enemy they created. What the MRA thinks and wants comes first. Whether or not they have a right to do it, or whether or not it even makes sense, always come second. All of it in the name of health and safety.
Next on our tour of patterns is everyone’s favorite additive, Vitamin E Acetate. With a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the population dying from a voluntary action that may or may not have involved vape, she immediately sounded the alarm and banned the sale of flavored nicotine e-cigarrettes. Using data that was almost a year old El Governor contrived a link to teen vaping to support her ban of free commerce on all consenting adults, using once again “the health and safety of Michigan families” as justification for her overreach. Even after the new data landed, and Vitamin E Acetate was named, a substance not found in fruity flavored nicotine vape, she refused to back down. Reason, science, it mattered nothing, and a judge had to strike down her ban, twice. Even with the cause removed, her administration pushed for the effect: A tyrannical and arbitrary across the board ban on some but not all vape as to be determined by her, not relevant data, and with no regard to individual liberty.
And of course, here we are now. With nothing more than two presumptive (pre-sump-tive - adjective - Of the nature of a presumption; presumed in the absence of further information) cases Whitmer set off a chain of decrees that ended in her declaring it a misdemeanor to leave one’s home for ‘nonessential purposes’, which she defined. In effect, you are a criminal if you leave your home, go to work, open your business, go to school, or gather in groups, unless she gave you permission. All while involving herself in the Trump media circus, even going so far as to attempt to penalize doctors for trying to help patients, playing politics with people’s lives, and trying to catch the eye of creepy Joe Biden. Even now that the numbers are no more than other seasonal causes of death and health officials are offering up logical and realistic methods of slowing infection, she follows the patterns of her vape ban policy and ignores facts for the sake of getting her way, even going so far as blocking efforts to limit her now invisible power. Again in the name of health and safety, always with no regard for rights or facts.
Whitmer has not ignored the constitution and stolen rights because of a virus. She just steals rights and ignores the constitution because she is a tyrant. Just another one of these bossy arrogant people who blatantly disregards the will of others and falsely believe they know what is best for everyone. All the while justifying their policies with pure rhetoric and conditioning, as if the people were nothing more than dogs to be trained.
If one person can reshape civil liberty on their whim then we do not have civil liberty, which makes her exactly the type of ruler the constitution and bill of rights are meant to prevent. Michigan deserves leaders who honor their constitutional oaths and respect the freedom and autonomy of all others. Michigan deserves better than a dictator who smokes our rights every chance she gets, all while handing us the same tired lines.
