My Phoenix protest spot

Of course that wasn’t the news, the millions of us in Phoenix who stayed home again. Instead, the story today was of a couple hundred goobers who went to the Capitol with their signs and flags and guns and tried to meet with Governor Ducey, in order to encourage the Republican to “open up” the state. I don’t know why, but the Governor refused to meet with a dozen yahoos who tried to storm his office—in mass, shoulder-to-shoulder, no social distancing, no masks or protective gear. Sure, come on in! Shake with the Guv!

So far, although fewer than 1% of the state has been tested, Arizona has managed to avoid the terrible infection rates seen elsewhere, with more than 5,000 positive cases and nearly 200 deaths. Apparently, today’s Darwin Award finalists were not satisfied with the state’s poor showing in the infection derby.

Many brought their children to the death rally, not letting the kids out of the fun. Some waited in their trucks at the red light by the Capitol, observing that infringement on their rights, but then they drove by the Capitol and screamed that the Bill of Rights allows them to die faster. And kill others in the process.

Happily, several nurses and healthcare providers showed up too, hoping to convince the numbnuts that they really don’t want to experience what the nurses see everyday:

"They say 'walk a mile in a man's shoes,' and [I] just wish that they could see what it is that our nurses and physician colleagues are seeing every single day."

More than a few politicians, or wannabes playing politicians, showed up to get their name in the paper. Words like “liberty” and “rights” and “1776” peppered the talks, but David Farnsworth (Cra-Mesa) is clearly the man the Governor should listen to, rather than medical experts.

“Satan is behind it all,” Farnsworth said to the crowd. “He wants to control it all. He hates liberty.”

So, Satan is responsible for this because he hates liberty, but your God is another Tom Paine? I read a different story. Your whole friggin’ religion is telling people what Thou Shalt Not do. Who hates liberty? Then there was the Vietnam veteran who suggested that we don’t have to defeat Satan, just Democrats—with a bullet:

“All I’m asking you is to vote them out,” he said, referring to Democratic politicians. “I don’t want to have to shoot them again.”

Again? As a Vietnam vet who regularly works with veterans groups, I get that veterans want to return to work, they want to go to the mall, they want to have a beer at the pub. Nobody wants to stay home. But most of us survived a horrific experience that made each day all the more precious. So we stayed home and rallied for life. And honored the caregivers, unlike this mob.