Parents Should Parent
Last week, the governor held a news conference to announce that there would be more frequent reporting of COVID information…up from one to three times per week.
She was hit by a number of questions about mask mandates. So let’s review.
The legislature passed a bill, which the governor signed into law, prohibiting cities and schools from issuing mask mandates. In accordance with an opinion by the state’s Democrat attorney general, local entities never had the power to issue those…and the legislature simply cleared up the issue. The governor can, however, issue such a mandate…and those on the left continue to hound her about overriding the new state law.
At one point, the health department director was asked about her advice on local mask mandates; the governor instead answered, noting that anyone’s advice on that is moot because there’s a law in place. I think the question was broader than that, simply asking what she would recommend regarding mask wearing generally. And I think someone was tipped to ask the question, because after the news conference, the health department director told media folks that she herself sends her children to school with masks.
“Aha!” the political left crowed. “That means we should have a mask mandate.”
Actually, it’s quite the opposite. The fact that the health department director sends her children to school with masks makes the point that this should be left up to parents, and not subject to one-size-fits-all government. If I were a parent, I’d want the option and would be upset at any school that tried to interfere by requiring masks, the effectiveness of which has been proven to be quite limited. Those who are whining for the government to parent their children in this way need to step up and make the hard choice themselves, and not be allowed to blame a mask mandate on the governor or a school so they can still be the “cool parent” to their children.
