The Unforgivable Sin of Gretchen Whitmer

I’ve said before on this site that I don’t buy into many of the disparaging theories people have postulated about Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

I don’t, for example, agree with the notion that she’s nothing more than a dictator who tasted the thrill of executive privilege once and became hopelessly addicted to it, or that she made sweeping decisions concerning Covid-19 solely to spite her political opponents, or that she she doubled down on her unpopular policies simply because she’d fallen in love with the idea of her own supreme sovereignty.

I don’t think she’s a wretched person with no redeemable qualities. I don’t think she knowingly made decisions she didn’t believe in for diabolical purposes, and I don’t believe she deliberately attempted to harm the State of Michigan.

In fact, if we’re being totally honest here, I don’t even believe she puts on a pointy hat at night and flies around on a broomstick turning unsuspecting children into salamanders.

That’s a joke by the way. But based on what some people have said and still say about the Governor, it’s not that far from what certain groups think.

I'm not even going to use one of those horrible photos the media take to purposely make someone look bad

No, unlike many, I actually have no issue viewing Governor Gretchen Whitmer in a much simpler way: As a person who understandably got in over her head in regards to an incredibly complex situation, and then continually shot herself in the foot for misguided reasons.

And that could almost make her a sympathetic character, if it weren’t for her greatest sin:

The total inability to accept that local autonomy must supersede unilateral mandates, even in perceived times of grave peril.

Sorry to go all constitutional on you, but I’m about to. I feel it’s necessary when I drop a line like the preceding one, so here goes.

I believe that the framers of the constitution rightfully and obviously designed the founding documents of this country to protect individuals from government interference.

Remember, there are many complex reasons The American Colonies wanted to break free from England’s rule, but unnecessary government influence was certainly toward the top of the list. So it makes sense that the documents they composed to outline the rightful relationship between government and governed are explicit when it comes to this concept.

And to me, there is simply no metric by which Governor Whitmer didn’t fail the people of Michigan in this regard.

Dudes wrote for a reason, people

You see, I might be able to forgive Governor Whitmer for her mask mandates. Potentially give her a free pass for her overbearing quarantine orders. Absolve her for shutting down schools. Twice. Forget about all that “not-letting-people-buy-gardening-supplies-to-work outdoors-on-their-own property” nonsense.

Those things were all mistakes, but I get it. Covid-19 was initially presented to her and everyone else as the end of the world. I understand the need to take immediate action and I understand that the action had to be pervasive. I do not envy the lens Governor Whitmer was placed under or the scrutiny she faced for every decision she made. She knew she had to enact sweeping measures or she would be crucified for inaction.

So no, I don’t fault her for doing what she did.

But I absolutely fault her for continuing to do it, without the input of state lawmakers or the people of Michigan, for a year and a half.

One person doesn’t get to introduce massive, indefinite societal changes to business, education, and a generational way of life without the input of the representatives legal voters have put into place. More than that, when the Michigan Supreme Court finally states that fact verbatim, that same person doesn’t get to manipulate the system to continue the illegal mandates by going through a different channel that person has direct control over.

So while Governor Whitmer did face an unprecedented situation and did make a number of poor decisions concerning it, it’s not the poor decisions she made under duress that I fault her for. Poor decisions are singular events. They happen. I’m certain I’d have made mistakes, too.

But Governor Whitmer’s choice to ignore the state’s legislators while overriding the will of the people through executive mandates, was not a singular event. It was a complete and active disregard of the legislative process, and an abuse of power by any definition.

That’s unforgivable. That’s something you deserve to lose your job over.

That's something Michigan voters have to remember in 2022.