A wave tossed on the ocean.
It’s a metaphor. It's typically assigned to someone or something that has no rhyme or reason to it. Its movements are easily swayed by a thousand different variables and there is no way to predict future movements. It crashes and splashes, tumbles left and right and up and down, and is altogether unconcerned and unaware of where it is going next or why.
It reminds me of Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Considering the site I run, I’m really not one who jumps onto the “Let’s all just hate on Gretchen Whitmer for a while” bandwagon that often, but I do think analyzing her term as Governor is important, and I do think mistakes she has made have absolutely changed Michigan for the worse.
Today, however, I'm not getting into all that. Instead, I’m only going to analyze her time in office in light of one thing. Other writers have already gone through policy decisions and political platforms and fiscal plans and proposed agendas. All of those matter and they should be discussed, but for this article I’m going to keep it basic.
I’m going to discuss an element of Gretchen Whitmer’s term that even a child could analyze:
Her uncanny ability to act consistently inconsistent.
In March of 2020, when shutdowns first started and Covid-19 first hit the majority of the American population's radar, nobody knew exactly what it was. Leaders were forced to take positions on what Covid was, how serious it was, where it came from, and what needed to be done about it. Strong stances were taken one way or the other, and most of those stances had to be taken well before any meaningful data could be analyzed to determine what was actually right.
Gretchen Whitmer was no different. She had to wade into the unforgiving sea of Covid speculation because if she didn't she would be crucified for not taking action in response to something the media was already giddily turning into a fear campaign for the ages.
So take action Governor Whitmer did. And as I've said before, I don't blame her for her initial response because it had to be made and it had to be made prematurely and under duress.
While most of her initial moves were relatively standard and seemed to be copycat decisions based on other Governors in the Midwest, as spring rolled on something changed.
Gretchen Whitmer started to buy the hype.
Buy the "hypes" I should say.
She bought into the media exaggerated Covid-19 fear campaign hype. She bought into the, "this is your moment to shine" hype. She bought into the, "I could be Joe Biden's Vice President" hype. She bought into the, "only mandates can save us" hype. She bought into the, "anyone who questions anything about Covid is an anti-science country bumpkin who enjoys seeing people die" hype.
Most of all, she bought into the "seeing herself as a savior" hype.
And that's when the world went mad in Michigan.
Yes, for whatever reason, Gretchen Whitmer went "Mandate Godzilla" on the state of Michigan.
She was issuing so many mandates that there was no room on her desk for the new mandates. Old mandates fell onto her already mandate covered floor only to be swept into the mandate filled overflow closet before they could be moved by heavy machinery to the newly renovated mandate storage wing down the hall.
That's my guess at least. Seriously, there were a lot of mandates.
But then something crazy happened.
Summer hit. And Covid cases dropped in Michigan.
Our "dreadful" April 2020 "spike" -- which now looks quite small comparitively -- was gone by June.
But the mandates didn't go away. No. The mandates stuck around. Gretchen Whitmer UNILATERALLY extended the state of emergency WITHOUT congressional or voter approval beyond its originally required end date of April 30th.
In fact, mandates connected to this unlawful extension remained in place until October, when the Michigan Supreme Court struck down Whitmer's unilateral declaration.
You'd think that would have been the end of it.
But it wasn't.
Whitmer released statements saying how disappointed she was at the court's ruling. She grasped at straws saying her orders were still in effect for 21 more days and that the Supreme Court ruling would be challenged as the Governor would request a rehearing.
But there was another problem.
It was October now, and as anyone with an ounce of sense knew by this point, Covid surges were seasonal, and October in Michigan meant one thing: Surge.
And school -- if you can call what the state of Michigan forced public schools to do during the 2020-2021 year school -- was back in session.
Governor Whitmer, still unwilling to accept the decision of the legally and rightfully appointed Supreme Court, found a way to egregiously manipulate a different, older law connected to the MDHHS to keep the very mandates the Supreme Court had declared illegal in place.
Students and staff at all schools statewide were forcibly masked, including religious schools who attempted to sue to protect their religious beliefs, but were overruled.
"Virtual school" became the norm, perfectly healthy students and teachers sitting at home for weeks at a time due to overbearing and unmanageable quarantine rules that must be followed. Any district who dared step out of line risked losing essential federal and state funding.
And so, a disastrous, disoriented, disjointed school year was completed, one with multiple forced closings or recommended closings, thousands of 10 day quarantines, and masks, masks, masks, everywhere.
But then something crazy happened.
Summer hit…again. And Covid cases dropped in Michigan… again.
And this, is where the analysis of Governor Gretchen Whitmer's time in office gets incredibly intriguing.
You see, up to this point, in terms of everything mentioned above, Gretchen Whitmer had at least attempted to give the impression she was trying to maintain some semblance of consistency to her overbearing and overreaching unilateral mandates. Sure, she flip-flopped a lot and "the science changed" a lot, and "unprecedented times required unprecedented action" a lot, but she always at least implied she would continue to take drastic action to protect Michigan, regardless of whether it was popular. She was going to mandate and mandate and mandate because in her opinion, Covid-19 was the end of all things.
But then on July 1st of 2021, everything changed.
Like a wave tossed on the ocean.
In the midst of her "Vacc to Normal" campaign -- which, by the way, made no sense because it was driven by a fear of cases and the vaccines don't prevent cases -- the CDC released new guidance stating that fully vaccinated people no longer needed to adhere to many of the strict guidelines they had previously recommended.
And immediately, well before Michigan reached its the 70% vaccination goal she had set, the ink from Gretchen Whitmer's mandate pen dried up.
Every mandate went out the window. She ended those related to the vaccinated by directive and let those that remained for everyone else expire on their own.
Soon, nobody had to wear a mask. There were no limits on capacity. Schools could do what they wanted. Communities could do what they wanted. Local health departments were given full control. And Gretchen Whitmer, the shrieking, mandating voice who throughout the pandemic had been as loud and unmistakable as an aircraft carrier taking off, went radio silent.
But that was in the summer right? Cases were down. If they spiked again things would change, right?
Wrong.
Here we are, November of 2021, amidst the greatest surge of Covid in Michigan history, and for some reason, Gretchen Whitmer is done with her mandates.
Most public schools are fully open. Businesses are fully open. Stadiums are filled with 100,000+ people on the weekend. Restaurants are full. Masks aren't required by the state. Quarantining isn't required by the state. Kids are in classrooms of 30 every day, and the state government isn't interfering in the name of a "pandemic" in any way.
Amidst the greatest surge of Covid-19 in Michigan history.
Like a wave tossed on the ocean.
We could debate all day why Gretchen Whitmer has completely changed her policy on how to handle Covid-19. I have already explained to you what I think. But in terms of this article, I'm not even worried about that.
I'm only worried about the inconsistency.
If Covid-19 was bad enough in 2020 to issue mandates until the cows come home, it's worse now. 70%+ of those eligible in the state being vaccinated hasn't improved our position whatsoever, so I won't accept that cop out. Give me one reason, any reason, other than an upcoming election, as to why the Governor has immediately and entirely altered her handling of Covid-19, and I will listen.
But if it is as it seems, if Occam's Razor applies and Gretchen Whitmer really is willing to change the way she does EVERYTHING solely for the sake of reelection, it can only mean one of two things:
She was wrong in the way she handled 2020 and all her mandates, she knows it, but she won't admit it. In this case, she must publicly and willingly admit her previous mistakes, at which point I will accept the total 180 on how she's handling things today.
She truly is a wave tossed on the ocean, making massive, unilateral decisions affecting millions based on personal motivations that are so precarious, unpredictable, and agenda based that she is unfit for the position she holds.
At the end of the day, I just can't help but view Gretchen Whitmer's tenure as Governor, to a certain degree, as a personal crusade to protect her own status. First she wanted to be a savior, then she wanted to be Vice President, now she just wants to be reelected.
She has demonstrated a willingness to take whatever actions she feels will preserve her political career regardless of how inconsistent the actions are or whether they are the right decisions for the people of Michigan.
And if that's the case, she has to go.
And it's Michigan voters who have to show her the door.
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