A Pandemic of Cowardice

Oregon's leaders are just plain scared

I was doing research for my last blog, the satirical trial of the State of Oregon, when I stumbled across a cringeworthy video made by Dr. Dean Sidelinger, State Health Officer and would-be Covid warrior. In the video, a teary-eyed Sidelinger barely maintains composure as he implores people to wear masks and recounts the struggles he endures each morning as he reviews the grim toll of Covid hospitalizations and deaths. In this nauseating heart-on-his-sleeve meltdown, Sidelinger confesses he sometimes gives way to anger. And sometime he weeps.

This is the face of today’s woke Left. It’s not just okay for men to cry (and it is), but we should stream it, unabashed, all over the internet for public consumption. The Left now celebrates weakness as strength, cowardice as courage. They don’t believe in the land of the free and the home of the brave. This is no longer the Democratic party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who addressed America with confidence after the attack on Pearl harbor with the words “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” He was firm. He was resolute. He told us:

“We will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.”

This is no longer the Democratic party of John F. Kennedy, who set up a naval blockade when the Russians planted nuclear weapons in Cuba just 90 miles from American soil. Kennedy confidently told America:

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are - but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high - but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.

No, this is now the Democratic Party of cut-and-run Joe Biden, pulling out of Afghanistan in the middle of the night and leaving thousands of Americans and Afghan allies behind with little hope of rescue. He left behind a fully stocked military base as well, with billions of dollars in arms, vehicles and technology. And then he called it a success.

Which brings me to Oregon and the pandemic. Does the State Health Officer inspire courage and confidence in the war against the virus he calls “a foe”? Watch a minute of this cringeworthy video and judge for yourself as he tearfully implores people to hide from life. Does this self-pitying, helpless man who works ensconced in the safety of his home, appearing only in Zoom calls, give you hope? Will you sleep better at night? Will you face the next day with a smile, with confidence, shoulders squared, chin up, ready to live life fully and completely come what may? I don’t think so.

Dean’s dour boss, Governor Kate Brown, isn’t any different. She hasn’t appeared in public in months. She’s hiding. We only see her on camera, alone, in undisclosed locations, dolloping out grim forebodings and lecturing us like some desiccated spinster schoolmarm.

Compare her to governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis, out in public, no mask, surrounded by people. He exudes confidence. He’s pushing for a bill that would require hospitals to let people stay with dying family members in the hospital. That’s true compassion.

Compare her to Kristi Noem of South Dakota, who never shut down schools or businesses, refusing to give in to the doomsayers predicting mass carnage.¹ She exudes hope.

Some people think Oregon’s leaders are tyrants. I think they’re cowards. They’re terrified and they project that fear with every public statement they make, infecting their voter base. Oregon’s larger western cities are cesspools of quiet desperation, people masked inside their cars as they drive alone, people masked as they walk outside, alone, crossing the street to avoid even one passing stranger. Even when the mask mandate was briefly lifted in the summer of 2021, they clung to their masks in the supermarket aisles and even the parking lots.

I understand that fear because, I will admit, I was afraid in the beginning. I soon realized we were being lied to and manipulated. I saw how damaging the lockdowns were. I knew that the masks were just theatre. But even then I was afraid to take off my mask in a store — but not because I feared Covid.

I feared confrontation.

It’s time to stop being afraid. Don’t shun people because they’re unvaccinated. Don’t avoid friends and family. Stop listening to the fear mongers. And if you don’t want to wear a mask in public, don’t wear one. Yes, you will eventually be asked to put a mask on and yes, you may eventually be kicked out of a store.² It won’t happen often and most large markets will leave you alone. Go about your business with a smile on your face, shoulders squared, chin up, ready to live life fully and completely.

1. South Dakota ranked 20th in deaths nationwide. There is no national standard, however, for defining a Covid death so comparisons are difficult.

2. I’ve been kicked out of Amazon, Best Buy, Sephora and a little antique shop. I have shopped maskless in Costco, Trader Joe’s, Boot Barn, Harbor Freight, Winco, Dollar Tree, Coastal Farm and Ranch, Macy’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Nordstrom, Walgreens, Natural Grocers, Wal-Mart, Beaverton Honda and Marshalls and numerous places in eastern Oregon and Washington.