Written by Nathaniel Mannor
Politics is like theater. They both involve a set stage, a plot designed to entice the audience, and, most importantly, a cast of characters to act out the drama. Today, Muriel Bowser prepares for her most prominent role yet, a concerned yet caring mayor of our capital as she fights against the evils of the new Delta Variant. Will she get the part and wow the crowd? Spoiler alert, she didn’t.
On July 31, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser implemented a new mask mandate requiring all D.C. residents two and up to wear masks at all times indoors except when eating and drinking. Mayor Bowser stated that “I know that D.C. residents have been very closely following the public health guidelines, and they will embrace this. . . . We will continue to do what is necessary to keep D.C. safe.” Unfortunately, the residents of Washington D.C. continue to follow the authoritarian mask policies Bowser has put into place. But like all tyrants, she doesn’t practice what she preaches.
That very same day, the mayor attended a wedding she officiated. And guess what, there wasn’t a mask in sight! When pressed with charges of hypocrisy, the mayor’s office replied, “The mask mandate is for indoor settings (excluding while eating and drinking) and does not apply to outdoor settings. The mayor wore a mask indoors in compliance with the mandate.” It should be noted that the mayor proclaimed at the event that D.C. would become the 51st state. Perhaps we should add a 52nd red state to offset the imbalance, as this habit of adding states with opposing ideologies led to the Civil War, but that’s beside the point.
Her lackeys’ defense of her speaks to a broader narrative about the mask madness. All across the U.S., big cities push for more Covid restrictions despite nearing the end of the pandemic. And yet, the city dwellers go along with the whims of their overlords because they have so profoundly embraced their “new normal” that they turn a blind eye to their leaders’ contradictions. These people have become so fearful of the pandemic that they would surrender their rights for protection against a waning virus. But as history shows, those who trade freedom for safety end up with neither.
