The federal travel mask mandate, the last gasp of an overreaching, tyrannical, nonsensical response to the Covid-19 pandemic from our feckless federal government, thankfully bit the dust earlier this month on the lawful orders of a district court judge appointed by none other than former President Donald Trump on his way out of office in 2020.
Notwithstanding the beautiful irony of Trump poking his nose in President Biden’s eye from the political grave, the decision from U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, that found the CDC’s mandate “arbitrary” and “capricious” and outside the scope of the agency’s authority, was based on sound legal reasoning that would easily withstand appellate scrutiny if our legal system had any intellectual integrity left.
Sadly, however, given the bizarro, upside-down world we live in now, these decisions aren’t slam-dunks anymore. Far from it. We did, after all, come a mere two Supreme Court justices away from the ‘unvaccinated’ being forced to wear moist, bacteria-laden, useless pieces of cloth over our faces at our jobs for no discernible reason or effect other than the fact that control-freak, hypochondriac mask-cultists are the ones in charge and want to actively punish those who disagree with their pseudo version of ‘science.’
With the TSA controlling airports and airplanes, implementing and enforcing a mask mandate - however ridiculous and unscientific - at these places was well within the realm of possibility. Consequently, the absurdity kept getting extended and would have likely been indefinitely kept in some form or other because these people worship masks and, since Covid isn’t ever entirely going away, the virus will always exist as a pretext.
But Mizelle put a merciful dent in those plans. In fact, outside of a head of state, it’s hard to imagine a single person with the stroke of a pen making such an instantaneous positive impact on the lives of millions of people, as evidenced by the celebrations and immediate mask removals across airports and airplanes nationwide. That’s how it’s supposed to work, and it was refreshing. Judges are supposed to protect the liberties of citizens from overzealous portions of the other branches of government, not constrain them, and this was among the dumbest of many, many dumb pandemic rules.
But now the Biden administration is appealing the decision, not so much with the intention of bringing back the mandate immediately, but, in the words of White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha, in order to “make sure the CDC has the authority” to impose such mandates in the future. You can almost smell the hubris. Discussing the issue in a media appearance, Dr. Anthony Fauci insisted the CDC's decisions "should not be a court issue," strongly implying that a small group of unelected bureaucrats should be able to rule the populace without accountability to anyone. There are a few words for that, and not a single one of them is "democracy.
Too bad. For now at least, we live in a nation of laws and even the would-be totalitarians are forced to follow the Constitution to some degree. But yeah, this appeal is important. It would be great to win it at the Supreme Court level and put an eternal stake in the notion that bureaucratic entities like the CDC can arbitrarily run our lives. But as stated above, it’s a toss-up. Which means, at least on our end for the foreseeable future, the mask wars must continue, albeit in a different form from when actual mandates were in effect. I know. I know. It seems silly to spend time reliving the awful past when you’re able to get on a plane or walk in a Target and breathe freely, but as long as our overlords have the ability to reinstate their nonsense on a whim, it’s never really over.
What should Team Reality do going forward? Let's start with the following three things:
First, we must constantly attack the notion that masks are an intervention that ever worked in the first place. When you hear of mandates being lifted, the reason typically cited is because the virus is subsiding and with the caveat that they could be reinstated if cases rise. That’s not freedom, that’s a temporary reprieve. No, this fight isn't over until every last shred of credibility forced masking ever had is utterly destroyed. The assumption that “masks work” to stop or even slightly curb Covid-19 is one of the most destructive lies in all of human history, and we must take every possible opportunity to expose it to the light of truth. This, obviously, is a fight we've been waging more or less successfully for two years. Minds are changing and have been changed. Unfortunately, it's a fight we must continue until we reach critical mass.
Second, where a politician stands on forced masking should ALWAYS be an issue. Ask the question, even if there is no Covid in your area and even if there isn’t the remotest threat of a mask mandate being put in place anytime soon. Ask your would-be city council member or county commissioner or state representative this: “If Covid or another virus rises and hospitals are threatened to be overrun, would you support or oppose the imposition of a mask mandate to counter it?” For example, I asked exactly that of someone who came to my door campaigning for county commission, and I got the answer I was looking for and I got it with extreme prejudice. Suffice it to say I WILL be voting for this lady next month. Let’s make sure anyone elected to office going forward is firmly against Covid restrictions or mandates of any kind, full stop.
Third, continue to fight them in the courts. There’s a reason why lawfare has typically been a tactic of the left - because it WORKS. Obviously, our side has been doing it to a moderate degree here, but we should continue and ramp things up anywhere and in any situation where masks or vaccines are required. Let the tyrants know they’ll pay a price in court and in legal fees anytime they want to impose their insane hypochondria on normal people.
As is always the case when protecting liberty, eternal vigilance is the key. The time when the enemy seems to be defeated isn’t a time to rest, but to regroup and be ready to fight them on the next front and the next after that. Because when the next Covid wave comes - and it will - you can rest assured these lunatics will be back with a whole new round of tyranny to inflict.
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