Americans Are Sick of Authoritarian Mandates

[Valin]

American Greatness

The backlash against COVID rules should be a lesson for Democrats and Republicans alike: America is still a land of freedom.

Jeffrey H. Anderson

Jan. 24 2022

In some ways, America is showing renewed signs of being the land of the free and the home of the brave. After nearly two years of enduring authoritarian COVID-19 decrees, Americans appear to be turning away from those who have been most enthusiastic about imposing such mandates.

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Gallup’s polling isn’t the only warning sign for Democrats. RealClearPolitics’ senior election analyst Sean Trende has developed a model that has had success in predicting previous Senate elections. If the election were held today, his model indicates, the most likely scenario (given Biden’s low-40s approval rating) would be for Democrats to lose a net of four Senate seats. For that eye-opening result to occur, Democrats would have to lose 10 of the 11 swing-state seats up for grabs this year.

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To be sure, many Republicans have embraced COVID mandates as well. Despite unflinching opposition to masks by high-profile governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, 16 Republican governors imposed mask mandates at one time or another. In the Senate, fully one-third of Republicans chose not to cosponsor legislation, under the Congressional Review Act, opposing Biden’s vaccine mandate for doctors and nurses. But on the whole, there is no doubt that Democrats have embraced authoritarian mandates with far greater gusto—and Americans apparently have noticed.

The backlash against COVID mandates should be a lesson for Democrats and Republicans alike: America is still a land of freedom. While authoritarianism may be popular with elites, it remains mercifully unpopular with the everyday citizens who decide our elections.

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