Let’s see if I have this straight.
It took laborious behind-the-scenes lobbying to convince New Albany’s city council Democrats to approve a toothless face covering/mask resolution, an eloquent statement of abdication. This done, a committee of customary suspects was appointed to consider a “heavier” ordinance, and all involved — including the mayor, who’d also done precisely zilch — breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing of substance had occurred, and responsibility was deferred.
(As an aside, now I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, they’ll return to the ordinance idea. They might.)
But, still: The score begins Nothing 1, Something 0.
Then, after President Trump emerged from his Twitter war room in a state of consciousness suitable to tepidly support the wearing of face coverings/masks, Governor Eric Holcomb, a Republican, decreed a statewide mandate for Indiana, to begin a week after his announcement, this delay coming because — well, there’s all the time in the world, I suppose.
Nothing 1, Something 0, but with a runner on base.
Then, after standing by for weeks, Dr. Thomas Harris read the governor’s proclamation and belatedly discovered the effectiveness of face coverings/masks, issuing his own Floyd County Health Department writ mandating masks to take effect three days in advance of Holcomb’s order.
Nothing 1, Something 0, but with another runner on base.
Today, Holcomb signed an executive order mandating face coverings/masks, but without any semblance of an enforcement mechanism. Subsequently it was revealed that Harris’s order also is absent any teeth, and what the hell, it didn’t matter anyway, because both the sheriff (Frank Loop, R) and the police chief (Todd Bailey, D) — in agreement for the first time in living memory — conceded their shared disinterest in enforcing ANY such law.
Let’s see — double play, then a runner picked off; Nothing comes to bat and blasts home runs on two straight pitches.
Nothing 3, Something 0. Game over. Pandemic very much NOT over.
I ask, again: if politicians are not going to muster the simple courage demanded of them by their oaths, and expend the necessary political capital to help the populace stay safe DURING A PANDEMIC, then when, exactly, do they feel that the proper time might actually be?
This is why I detest the two-party system with every last fiber of my being.
Our elected officials from both parties have combined to incessantly politicize public health during this crisis, and to hand us a document written in invisible ink. But I must say in utter candor that the GOP, in charge of “governing” throughout the state, bears more of the sad burden of ignominy.
Let’s call the non-outcome Triple Secret Probation.
Better yet, why not refer to it as a DEAD LETTER.
After all, their combined non-efforts will lead to Hoosiers … that’s right, dying.
(for the next few days, I’ll be titling my posts after songs. That should confuse them even more)
