The sweeping mandates are for our public health. These folks aren't asking us to mask up or vaccinate for their own benefit. And they can only sorta ignore their own rules, because aren't they being roasted in the media when they mess up? The fourth estate at work. It will affect their re-election chances.
> The problem is that so many elected officials don't abide by the rules that they push.
Hypocrisy sucks, everyone agrees. Gavin Newsom having maskless restaurant meals when asking the rest of us to stay home is wrong. But it's wrong mainly because _masking is good for public health_ and he didn't listen to the advice of the medical professionals that he was parroting, nor did he conduct himself in the way a public servant held to a higher standard should. It doesn't change that masking and staying at home _does_ help everyone, by keeping hospitals from exceeding capacity and minimizing needless death.
There will always be virtue signalers and hypocrites but let's not allow them to stand in the way of sane public health policy.
No one is asking for a higher standard.
> aren't they being roasted in the media when they mess up? The fourth estate at work
Was there any coverage in NYT/CNN/WaPo of Biden shopping maskless? I only heard about it because I happened to read some news from a right-leaning site.
> It will affect their re-election chances.
I'm pretty sure Nancy Pelosi is safe. This only affects politicians in purple districts.
I have a difficult time believing Biden does any shopping on his own.
I am.
Not a single "expert" or government official who pushed these mandates lost their income or livelihood. Many live in big houses and have the financial means to enjoy themselves regardless of their own restrictions.
In my opinion every "expert" and politician should have lost their paycheck the day they enacted this stuff. All these "work from home" people too--none of what most HN readers do is "essential" so they should have been shut down even if they could work from home. If the playing field was level, perhaps more people in positions of power would have questioned things. It takes an incredible amount of privilege to do virtually any of what we did over the last two years.
It's hard to break rules that don't exist.
> It's hard to break rules that don't exist.
Wait, what's your argument again?
The problem is that so many elected officials don't abide by the rules that they push. Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, London Breed, etc. When the powerful can ignore their own rules, they're more likely to enact sweeping mandates.