For weeks the media in the US has focused its attention on\nWashington DC and the federal government\u2019s response to the COVID-19 coronavirus\ncrisis. The daily press briefing with President Trump and members of his coronavirus\nTask Force has become \u201cmust watch\u201d television for millions of Americans. But as\nnatural as it might be to focus attention on actions of the federal government,\nin America\u2019s system of federalism, where the national constitution reserves\npower to the states except where specifically granted to the federal\ngovernment, the decisions to quarantine people or allow people to recreate and\nopen their economies is up to the individual states. At present, some 20 states\nare in varying stages of allowing people to return to work and are beginning to\nopen up their economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The states have handled the crisis very differently.\nAdmittedly we find ourselves in an unprecedented situation, requiring state\ngovernors to balance the dictates of the constitution against concerns for\nprotecting the public health. Some, like Florida\u2019s Governor Ron DeSantis, have\nhandled this balancing very well, explicitly allowing religious services to\ncontinue from the beginning. The free exercise of religion is a guaranteed\nconstitutional right, not subject to the dictates of states or municipalities. Unfortunately,\nmany governors including California Governor Gavin Newsom, have decreed that\nattending a religious service is not an \u201cessential activity\u201d and thus has\nbanned Californians from leaving their homes to attend church services. The\nstate is being sued over their position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The International Organization for the Family (IOF) is\nconcerned about how politicians are using the crisis to limit the rights of\ncitizens, including imposing limitations on families to pray, celebrate,\nrecreate and gather. Indeed, the actions\nof America\u2019s governors provide an object lesson in the old maxim that power\ncorrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We are witnessing a daily litany of examples\nof politicians exercising power in ways that defy rational explanation other\nthan, \u201cbecause we said so.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as an example.\nCountless Michigan families own seasonal vacation camps, cabins and cottages in\nrural parts of the state. Whitmer has banned travel by Michiganders to these vacation\nhomes, but allows people from outside Michigan to travel freely to and from their\nseasonal vacation homes inside the state. Michigan is famous for its outdoor\nactivities, including fishing. Yet Whitmer has prohibited use of motorized\nfishing boats, although she permits fishing from kayaks, canoes and\nsailboats. Holding a family gathering to\ncelebrate a child\u2019s birthday is prohibited, but abortion providers like Planned\nParenthood are considered essential. Shoppers at stores like Walmart are\nprohibited from purchasing \u201cnon-essential\u201d items even though they may shop for\nother items deemed \u201cessential\u201d at the same store. She\u2019s shut down the\nlandscaping industry and is prohibiting residents from purchasing plant seeds\nand seedlings to plant home gardens. But people can still purchase lottery\ntickets. To put a fine point on her authoritarian and autocratic decrees, those\nwho violate her orders can be fined $1,000. The state encourages citizens to\nrat out their neighbors who violate her orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the most troubling political decree issued as a result of the coronavirus crisis came this week out of the state of New York, where the political appointees on the state Board of Elections decreed that the Democratic Presidential Primary would be cancelled. They called it a \u201cbeauty contest\u201d that cannot be allowed to occur because allowing people to exercise their constitutional right to vote might spread the virus. Apparently state politicians, not voters, will decide who will represent them in the national presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are also concerned about the rank media bias that has\ninfected coverage of the coronavirus crisis. In Georgia, Republican Governor\nBrian Kemp has earned the media\u2019s enmity for his decision to be reopen businesses\nin his state, ridiculing him for including tattoo parlors in his reopen order.\nYet in Colorado, Democrat Governor Jared Polis has issued a very similar set of\norders to reopen his state, specifically including tattoo parlors. No reporters\nor media outlets have targeted Polis for criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The exercise of political power must\nalways \u2013 always \u2013 be constrained by inviolate principles enshrined in\nfoundational governing documents. One such obvious example is the United States\nconstitution. Another example on an international scale is the Universal\nDeclaration of Human Rights which seeks to\npreserve, protect, and promote the family as society\u2019s \u201cnatural and fundamental\u201d<\/em> unit. The Declaration provides that \u201c[t]he family is the\nnatural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by\nsociety and the State.\u201d This foundational principle is also recognized in over 100 national constitutions. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A popular country song declares that every storm runs out of rain. At some point, hopefully soon, COVID-19 will run its course and no longer pose a threat to our health, economy or way of life. Let us hope \u2013 no, more than hope, resolve \u2013 that its lasting effects will not include damage to our fundamental rights, or undercut the primacy of the family as providing the foundation for all civilizations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The exercise of political power must always \u2013 always \u2013 be constrained by inviolate principles enshrined in foundational governing documents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":15305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"The exercise of political power must always \u2013 always \u2013 be constrained by inviolate principles enshrined in foundational governing documents.","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"512"},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[804,805,512],"tags":[1587,3126,3122,3125,3124,3127,3123],"class_list":["post-15189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-foreground","category-politics","tag-covid-19","tag-desantis","tag-federalism","tag-kemp","tag-newsom","tag-polis","tag-whitmer"],"yoast_head":"\n