Experts Warn Civil Rights Fallout from COVID Could be Far Worse Than the Pandemic Itself
Published: January 22, 2021
The very first executive order Joe Biden signed upon becoming the forty-sixth President of the United States was the national mask mandate he promised at the Democratic National Convention back in August. The order makes face coverings and social distancing mandatory on all federal property and a legal requisite for interstate commerce. The move signals a clear intent on the part of his administration to double down on the “authoritarian” emergency measures – as described in a recent paper from Oxford University – implemented in the wake of the pandemic crisis and sets the stage for what may be the greatest threat to human rights and civil liberties the world has ever known.
By Gary Sasse
After inciting an unprecedented attack on the nation’s Capitol, the Trump presidency is ending as a tragedy with the GOP in disarray. This is unfortunate because American governance can benefit from a constructive right-center Republican Party that helps create a problem-solving political environment.
After defeats, our political parties have evolved and reinvented themselves. If the GOP fails to do so, The Bulwark’s John V. Last believes “The Republican Party will be, for the foreseeable future, a minority party. The GOP will not win a popular vote plurality anytime soon.”
While the anticipated 2020 blue electoral wave failed to materialize, Harvard professor Thomas E. Patterson makes a convincing case that the GOP is in trouble. He points out that white voters comprise nine out of 10 GOP voters, but are a declining share of the population. For example, in 1992 whites encompassed 87 percent of voters compared to 67 percent today.