The peaceful protests taking place across the nation are doing wonderful things. They are forcing us and our leaders to take a good, hard look at the discrimination and unfairness faced by black Americans for generations, and some change is already being seen.
And today, they accomplished another thing: they completely exposed a massive governmental overreach in New Jersey.
In late March, Governor Phil Murphy placed a stay-at-home order on all of New Jersey. He received little blowback; the move made sense, considering how little we knew of Covid-19 and how deadly it is (or isn’t). As time went on, the governor said he’d begin lifting restrictions once the data and science allow for it, but gave no specifics regarding what he would need to see to make that determination. As the weeks passed and businesses crumbled, New Jerseyans began getting antsy. Beginning several weeks ago, protests began taking place, demanding that the governor start opening up businesses again. But Murphy ignored them, saying again that he will only be led by data and science, again data and science that he wouldn’t tell us about.
Then the George Floyd protests started. Tens of thousands of outraged men, women, and children took to the streets, demanding that the plight of black Americans finally be taken seriously. The protests quickly became a national movement, with massive protests taking place in larger cities and smaller individual protests held in towns across the nation. Even with his executive order still in place, Governor Murphy felt he had to get involved. So while he continued ordering police to shut down and ticket houses of worship and businesses, the governor himself participated in a protest in Hillside – a protest that broke every social distancing restriction that he put in place and was still refusing to lift.
The disconnect was obvious and striking, and the condemnations and accusations of hypocrisy came fast and furious. Assemblyman Jay Webber went so far as to call on NJSP Superintendent Callahan to issue a summons to Murphy.
When asked about his decision to join the protest, Murphy said that it was okay because “It felt different.” In other words, his restrictions pertained only to gatherings that he wasn’t specifically in approval of, but gatherings that “felt different” to him were perfectly fine.
This exposed Governor Murphy’s unconstitutional overreach to a level we hadn’t seen before.
The attacks on the governor came in torrents, and rightfully so. Here we had a governor who couldn’t give a semi-coherent response to how one gathering is legal while another is completely illegal, yet still said he was right about it.
Suddenly, a day later, Governor Murphy announced that he’s lifting the stay-at-home order in New Jersey. There hadn’t been a single significant difference in the data from hospitals, and nothing changed regarding a vaccine. So why did Governor Murphy suddenly drop his order?
The answer, of course, is obvious. The governor had been caught.
He had been using his position as governor to exert unconstitutional powers on New Jersey, simply because he could. And when he found it politically-opportunistic to join a protest and show how progressive he is, he immediately joined, executive order be damned. He then thought that saying the protests were different would make it sound logical, which it didn’t, and he was stuck.
So, what did he do? He just yanked the whole executive order. It was, after all, now making him look bad.
What about the terrible danger of coronavirus cases spiking again? That too can now be damned; politically, it just didn’t make sense to keep it in place anymore.
Any way you look at it, Governor Murphy and his unconstitutional overreach have been utterly exposed. He unilaterally enacted orders whose constitutional underpinnings were dubious in the first place and kept them in place by using a “data and science” justification that he never cared to explain, essentially keeping us in the dark. Then, when it became more politically convenient to remove the restrictions, he immediately did. None of this was done with our health and welfare in mind, it was simply a good old power grab.
Remember this when he runs for another term as governor of New Jersey. And thank the protesters for helping to shed light on the rotten parts of our democracy.
Maskim
So much non-sense. Of course the restrictions were appropriate, and the protests were not. Murphy allowed those protests for fear of retalliation and got caught up. To save his face he lifted some of the restrictions for everyone.
Do two wrongs make one right? Absolutely not!!!
Look at today’s reports. At least 12 States have seen this week their highest 7-Day Hospitalisation average since the beginning of the pandemic!! Even the stock market took a hit today based on those reports.
It is true, we’re all tired of these restrictions, but does it give us the right to irresponsably expose ourselves and our fellows to another reintroduction of the virus by ignoring all medical experts advice? Have we fallen out of our senses?? Where is the Mesirus Nefesh to save a Yid???? All we’re asking is to reopen with caution. Wear masks. Keep social distance. Where has our respect for life gone? We have clear guidelines from Agudah on baby steps reopening, despite whatever permissions the government gives. Let’s keep to the rules and stop risking our lives for the benefit of the God of comfort.
Why dont you stay inside forever. There will always be germs.
Why cite Agudah when we have our local Rabbanim?
Just stay home.
Why do you feel the need to force everyone else to do what you want?
The constitution is above his pay grade until he can use it for something he supports.
This entire debacle happened as a chessed Hashem to allow us to return to the Shuls & Yeshivos. Chasdei Hashem Ki LO Sumnu! Lev Melachim Vesarim Byad Hashem.
Maskim 1,000%. You hit it on the nail.
The biggest proof that Lev Melachim Vsarim… is when decisions are hypocritical !
Stop voting for Democrats and start voting for Republicans. Vote for Trump again and vote for Republicans not Democratic Senators and congress. Not democrats they are extremely dangerous these days. We need Republicans.
We don’t need Democrats and we don’t need Republicans – we need to judge each candidate by his/her record without global generalizations. What we really need is Moshiach, but that will take some work on our parts.. We can start with trying to uproot sinas chinam and to stay away from machlokes.
Mr. Newman – Great article; good points, well articulated.
Some posters are arguing with you but it’s clear they either didn’t read your whole piece or have reading comprehension deficiencies. Please continue to ignore them.
This whole debacle, even before the protests, exposed the governor in many unflattering ways; these protests just cemented it.
The sad part is the businesses that will never re-open & the jobs have been lost, R”L.
Hatzlochah Rabbah to all !!
This is purely a halachic issue. The degree of risk is such that many poskim are against relaxing the regulations–for good reason. When there is a doubt with regard to even safek pikuach nefesh, we must violate Shabbos and Yom kippur. Yet, here people have become ‘tired’ of restrictions and some don’t care that they are without exaggeration endangering the lives of Yidden. It is said that talmidei chachamim should be careful of am ha’aratzim because they can kill. Some things never change.
Dr. Z, Once we are on the topic of Am Haratzim, it is not a safek pikuach nefesh, not even a sfek sfeikah