by Kerry Dougherty
Hey, I think I’ve found it.
I’ve discovered the one good thing to come out of our national COVID nightmare: a horrifying awareness that we’ve given our governor too much power.
Far too much.
As the months ticked by and draconian emergency orders were extended over and over again, it was maddening to watch one man decide which businesses could operate and which could not. One person in Richmond decreed that schools and churches had to close. One man decided that weddings had to be cancelled and the dead buried without mourners. One man ordered Virginians into their homes after midnight.
It wasn’t just Virginia, of course. All around the country, livelihoods were lost, children were academically left behind, the elderly died alone due the arbitrary proclamations of state executives acting on their own whims.
For many Americans, it was our first taste of living in a dictatorship.
Finally, a movement is afoot to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
In a piece headlined, “Six Governors Stripped of Power Because of Overreach During the Covid-19 Pandemic” The Daily Caller reports that 46 states may place limits on governors.
Good.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan was stripped of her emergency powers when lawmakers repealed the state’s Emergency Powers Act of 1945.
Pennsylvanians voted to amend their constitution to limit their governor’s power.
In Kentucky, lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto to shorten Gov. Andy Beshear’s emergency powers to 30 days.
New York Democrats severely limited Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ability to enact any new COVID restrictions.
Ohio now holds their governor to a 30-day emergency order. Idaho legislators put a 60-day limit on their governor’s emergency powers.
And Virginia? Anything goes here. The governor has unlimited and endless power.
Gov. Ralph Northam first declared a state of emergency in March of 2020 and renewed it numerous times until he finally allowed it to expire June 30, 2021.
The far-left General Assembly met several times during that extraordinary emergency period and the Democratic majority never limited or gave its imprimatur to Northam’s extreme actions.
This was a dereliction of duty. They should all be tossed from office.
That’s why this November’s election is so important. There will be a chance for Virginians to replace the complacent nanny government types that currently fill the General Assembly with men and women who will do their jobs.
Vote on November 2 like your freedom depends on it.
This column has been republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed & Unedited.
