Politicians, Follow Your Own Rules

Andrew Carpenter, Design Editor|March 7, 2022

Restrictions in response to COVID-19 started for Sea Kings on March 16, 2020 with school being called off. 

Many other mandates soon followed to slow the spread of the unknown virus, and as an effect, the economy suffered and many small businesses collapsed. 

Since the mandates first came out, there have been multiple instances of politicians disobeying them, thinking that they are above the rules. 

On Mar. 19, 2020, California governor Gavin Newsom ordered all “non-essential” business establishments to close, causing those business owners and the people who worked at those businesses to not be able to work or provide for them and their families. Businesses that stayed open were given a fine. 

Newsom then attended a dinner party at the restaurant “The French Laundry” unmasked and indoors on Nov. 6, 2020. 

Newsom attending the party showed blatant disregard for the safety protocols he himself had created, disappointing the people who elected him to positively represent the state. 

On Dec. 1 , 2020, L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl voted to prohibit outdoor dining at all of L.A. county’s 30,000 restaurants, then goes to dine outdoors just hours later at a Santa Monica Italian restaurant, Il Forno Trattoria. 

This is clear hypocrisy shown by Kuehl, a supervisor of our own county. 

On January 30, 2022, Newsom and L.A. county mayor Eric Garcetti, along with San Francisco’s mayor London Breed attended an L.A. Rams football game in a packed arena while not wearing masks or social distancing. 

Since it is unacceptable for the general public to overlook COVID-19 safety protocols, it should obviously be unacceptable for politicians, the elected officials of our country, to disregard these important rules.

When politicians create rules that they themselves don’t follow, it seems to indicate that they either think they are better than the people they represent, or they think that the rules are unnecessary. 

I implore all politicians, who make rules affecting everyone’s lives, to abide by their own rules.