“Essential” . . . Says Who ?

During this Wuhan coronavirus turmoil, who gets to decide what the word, “essential” denotes? Does “essential” mean the same thing to a myriad of different people? If a head of a family makes his living selling suits and ties, is his job essential to him and his family? Hmmm! If he doesn’t work then his family doesn’t eat. Ergo his job is certainly pretty essential to him, and it is especially essential to his three kids! More and more it seems that the governors of states are the ones that think that they are the only ones who can make this determination. When asked about his diktat concerning the limitations on the rights of individuals . . . and whether they were in opposition to the Bill of Rights, the Governor of New Jersey shrugged off that question, and replied something to the effect that he did not think about that! “Hold on there, Gov! Are you telling me that you are possibly going against basic things which are guaranteed by our Founding Fathers? Are you in essence saying , as another politician flippantly said in 2008, “that’s above my pay grade!”? If you are purposely skirting freedoms spelled out in the Bill of Rights, isn’t that against the oath you took when you were sworn in? Attorney General William Barr recently commented there is no “pandemic exception” to the Constitution, but it seems to me that some governors are indeed using this pandemic to do whatever they want . . . the Constitution be damned!
These so called “social isolation” diktats are hurting the poor way way more than those who are financially better off. As best I can tell there is no good way for Joe Schmo to sell suits and ties from his kitchen, whereas all six of the neighboring adults in my cul-de-sac are working from home! Tell me again how this is fair.

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