Newsom’s Disdain for Democracy
James Madison, father of the U.S. Constitution, said that “a popular Government, without popular information, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both.” That sums up the reign of Gavin Newsom: A Tragic Farce.
Today, Newsom suddenly decided to lift the stay-at-home order statewide, “liberating” us to the purple tier. Just yesterday, he was indicating he’d do the opposite and re-impose it everywhere. Of course, it’s a classic authoritarian move to deprive citizens of liberty and then award small doses at random to make them seem like gifts.
This comes shortly after an Associated Press story, headlined “It’s a secret: California keeps key virus data from public,” reported that Newsom “won’t disclose key information that will help determine when his latest stay-at-home order is lifted” because releasing it would “confuse” the public.
That’s right. After nearly two and a half centuries of American history, Gavin Christopher Newsom has discerned that the Founders got it wrong. We are incapable of self-government. It’s just too complicated. In a double disavowal of democracy, he’s denying us both the ability to make decisions for ourselves and the right to know the basis for that denial.
This disrespect for the people of California is a throughline in Newsom’s worst-in-the-nation COVID response. He abolished representative government, overrode the choices of local communities, and still refuses to trust people to make their own choices about a virus whose risks are thoroughly understood. He even just spent $80 million on what he called “smashmouth” public-education billboards with messages like, “Keep 6 pugs apart.”
Newsom has also consistently blamed the public, not himself, for the state’s woes, saying things like, “Don’t be selfish,” “It is our behaviors that are leading to these numbers,” “some have developed a little amnesia,” and even: “If you cannot practice physical distancing, then are you practicing love?”
He’s taken the same approach to the Recall, with the infamous “California Coup” press conference claiming it’s somehow illegitimate for 1.2 million Californians and counting to give the state new leadership through a 110-year-old constitutional process.
One of Newsom’s surrogates at the California Coup event, a San Diego Supervisor, perfectly captured this disdain for democracy in dismissing calls to resume youth sports: “If you’re facing 3rd and long, that’s a situation where you oughtta listen to football coaches,” he said. “If you’re facing a global pandemic, that is a situation where you oughtta make sure you’re listening to public health experts and doctors.”
While Newsom and his enablers condescend coaches as mere play callers – denying them any voice as citizens and community leaders – I believe they are exactly who we need to hear from. I’m holding a press conference with coaches throughout California on the West Steps of the Capitol at 1 PM this Wednesday with a simple message, which also happens to be what health experts are saying: Let Them Play.
Ultimately, if we are to have a true recovery, we must not only remove Gavin Newsom from office but repudiate everything he stands for. That means restoring honesty and decency in government. It means rooting out corruption. And it means, above all, trusting and respecting the people of California again.
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