California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an Executive Order yesterday declaring a state emergency in regards to the Wuhan virus COVID-19. While most of us listened to the announcement of the curtailment of public gatherings and asking for social distancing, the devil is in the details.



On page 3, item number 8:

8. The California Health and Human Services Agency and the Office of Emergency Services shall identify, and shall otherwise be prepared to make available – including through the execution of any necessary contracts or other agreements and, if necessary, through the exercise of the State’s power to commandeer property – hotels and other places of temporary residence, medical facilities, and other facilities that are suitable for use as places of temporary residence or medical facilities as necessary for quarantining, isolating, or treating individuals who test positive for COVID-19 or who have had a high-risk exposure and are thought to be in the incubation period.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe that the state of California would run, say, the UCLA Medical Center better than UCLA. In fact, there is no reason to believe even smaller, private medical facilities are incapable running their businesses rather than some Sacramento bureaucrat.

Can you imagine that a hotel or motel that would refuse to cooperate with the state during this or any other emergency?

Indeed, let’s look at how the emergency of the Swine Flu, H1N1, of 2009 was handled in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the California Health and Human Services Agency and all departments and offices within that agency, as well as the California Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Highway Patrol, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Department of General Services, and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation enter into such contracts as they deem appropriate to provide services, material, personnel and equipment for the purpose of responding to the H1N1 Influenza pandemic; including, but not limited to, distributing vaccine, administering and monitoring vaccinations, and supplementing the extraordinary preventive measures implemented by local jurisdictions if needed.

Gov. Schwarzenegger also suspended competitive bidding requirements so agreements and contracts could be entered into quickly for services and materials. If you look through that EO, outside of the usual recommendations of hygiene practices, what is absent is calls for quarantines, or commandeering of hotels and medical facilities. Even his earlier proclamation of a state of emergency does no more than clear away the red tape so contracts could be easily procured.

After 11 years, have we really forgotten the devastation of H1N1 and how it was handled? I certainly don’t remember Democrats rushing to take political advantage of the crisis to threaten the property rights of citizens.

And, boy howdy, Governor Hairgel, ain’t the only one using Wuhan virus as a convenient excuse.

The Mayor of Champaign, Illinois just signed a sweeping executive order giving her the ability to ban the sale of firearms and ammunition because of…Wuhan coronavirus? There are no cases of the virus in town or the surrounding areas. https://t.co/CLOHveHWxU — Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) March 13, 2020

An Illinois mayor has given herself the power to shutdown all retail sales, including firearms, as she deems “necessary”. She also has power to shut down all utilities and restrict travel.

Never let a crisis go to waste! Indulge your inner totalitarian! Woohoo Wuhan!

Sometimes, though, it can lead to some unintentional black humor.

Last week, I said something like this would happen. I was called a fascist by activists in Seattle. pic.twitter.com/EpooMgg7js — (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) March 13, 2020

Well, that was an awesome plan. Give a politician the power to purchase a motel with public funds, then don’t actually pay attention to the sick people there so they can wander out and commit a few crimes before coming back to their taxpayer-provided digs.

Meanwhile, the same media that has gleefully stampeded you all into panic mode making these power grabs possible to pass under your nose, is busy rewriting the history of Wuhan coronavirus as you watch.

There is every reason to applaud Americans coming together to voluntarily take the measures necessary to combat this temporary health emergency. There are even reasons to support narrow, targeted government action to address specific behaviors that present an imminent danger.

However, this is way beyond the pale and it’s past time to push back on the cynical use of this emergency by authoritarian Democrats to set a precedent in taking away your Constitutional rights.

UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit readers!

featured image original artwork by VG Darleen Click