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Shortly before he died, Francois Mitterand gathered his friends for one final grand meal. The meal featured ortolan, a rare bird, that was, illegal to consume. I recall discussing the meal with a colleague in Europe. His thinking was “Good for Mitterand”; the great man ought to enjoy one final delight. I responded that that’s part of what separates America from Europe. The Biblical injunction “do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich” is a democratic standard. The law applies equally to everyone, from the poorest ditch digger to the wealthiest businessman and most powerful statesman.
The rash of Covid rule-breaking among our leadership class makes me wonder if Americans, at least those in our leadership class, still believe in that standard. (It was, to be sure, never entirely true, but it was, historically, more true in the US than in most countries). Consider a few instances. Deborah Birx, one of our national health leaders in defeating the Corona virus, was guilty “of breaking her own travel guidance.” In that, she was not doing anything that California Governor Gavin Newsom,New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and many others haven’t done. Perhaps the image of New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and his wife dancing in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, while just about everyone else in the city was stuck inside is hard to top as an example of this phenomenon.
Dr. Birx’s excuse for breaking the rules that she promoted is illuminating. As the New York Post notes, “her parents were so down in the dumps, they ‘stopped eating and drinking.’” “’My daughter hasn’t left that house in 10 months, my parents have been isolated for 10 months. They’ve become deeply depressed,’ Birx said of the need to “recover from the trauma of the last 10 months.’” As the story points out, that “justification [was] ripped by people who said it was her coronavirus restrictions that prevented them from seeing their own dying loved ones.”
What gives? Dr. Brix is an expert. It’s not a big leap to conclude that she thinks she knows better than others how to navigate around the rules in a way that would still mean that there’s little chance of exposure. Even so, a more thoughtful bureaucrat would understand that in a democratic nation there cannot be one standard for leaders and another for other citizens. To uphold the standard it must apply to oneself.
Continued below.
Democracies and Double Standards - Law & Liberty
Shortly before he died, Francois Mitterand gathered his friends for one final grand meal. The meal featured ortolan, a rare bird, that was, illegal to consume. I recall discussing the meal with a colleague in Europe. His thinking was “Good for Mitterand”; the great man ought to enjoy one final delight. I responded that that’s part of what separates America from Europe. The Biblical injunction “do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich” is a democratic standard. The law applies equally to everyone, from the poorest ditch digger to the wealthiest businessman and most powerful statesman.
The rash of Covid rule-breaking among our leadership class makes me wonder if Americans, at least those in our leadership class, still believe in that standard. (It was, to be sure, never entirely true, but it was, historically, more true in the US than in most countries). Consider a few instances. Deborah Birx, one of our national health leaders in defeating the Corona virus, was guilty “of breaking her own travel guidance.” In that, she was not doing anything that California Governor Gavin Newsom,New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and many others haven’t done. Perhaps the image of New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and his wife dancing in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, while just about everyone else in the city was stuck inside is hard to top as an example of this phenomenon.
Dr. Birx’s excuse for breaking the rules that she promoted is illuminating. As the New York Post notes, “her parents were so down in the dumps, they ‘stopped eating and drinking.’” “’My daughter hasn’t left that house in 10 months, my parents have been isolated for 10 months. They’ve become deeply depressed,’ Birx said of the need to “recover from the trauma of the last 10 months.’” As the story points out, that “justification [was] ripped by people who said it was her coronavirus restrictions that prevented them from seeing their own dying loved ones.”
What gives? Dr. Brix is an expert. It’s not a big leap to conclude that she thinks she knows better than others how to navigate around the rules in a way that would still mean that there’s little chance of exposure. Even so, a more thoughtful bureaucrat would understand that in a democratic nation there cannot be one standard for leaders and another for other citizens. To uphold the standard it must apply to oneself.
Continued below.
Democracies and Double Standards - Law & Liberty
