Madness is in the air, with mobs terrifying guilt-ridden government officials, corporate leaders, educators, and the heads of all our significant institutions into violating previously sacred principles in an effort to prove their wokeness.  The Constitution and basic concepts of justice are out the window, and we face a grim new normal in which "getting whitey" becomes acceptable behavior from governments.

How else to explain this "Face Covering Directive" from the "Health & Human Services" mandarins of Lincoln County, Oregon, signed by Rebecca Austen, Lincoln County Public Health administrator, and Dr. David Long, Lincoln County Health Officer?

The relevant portions read:

General directive: All individuals in Lincoln County are required to wear face coverings during any indoor public setting or outdoor public location where a person will be in within six feet of another individual, who does not share the same household.

And the exceptions allowed:

·      Persons with health/medical conditions that preclude or are exacerbated by wearing a face covering.

·      Children under the age of 12. Children over the age of 2 but under the age of 12 are encouraged to wear face coverings but not required to do so.

·      Persons with disabilities that prevents them from using the face covering as described in this Directive.  These persons must be reasonably accommodated to allow them access to goods and services.

·      People of color who have heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment due to wearing face coverings in public. [emphasis added]

My understanding of the expression "people of color" is that it includes everyone who is not Caucasian.  (This expression is offensive to me because it implies that as a Caucasian, I have no color — am I transparent?)  If this is the correct interpretation, the order is obviously in violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

There are no enforcement provisions attached to the directive, and it states that it is intended to be voluntary:

'No person shall intimidate or harass people who do not comply. This Directive is intended to induce voluntary compliance and compliment education and encouragement of use of face coverings to protect ourselves and our community.'   

That probably exempts the directive from litigation, which makes it all the more insidious, for it establishes a precedent of official blatant racial discrimination with no recourse.

The bulwarks that protect our civil rights are being eroded by the day.

Lincoln County is a coastal enclave with a population of around 50,000, whose county seat is Newport.  According to the 2010 Census, the population there was 87.7% white and 0.4% black.  The largest racial minorities were, in order, two or more races (3.7%), American Indian or Alaska Native (3.5%), and two or more races (3.4%).  I am unclear if the two or more races people are exempt, but the "one drop rule" popular in the Jim Crow South may well be coming back into use, this time to discriminate against Caucasians.

The ugliness of the architecture (find the human spirit in it, I challenge you) of the Lincoln County Courthouse reflects the ugliness of the bureaucrats inhabiting it:  

Photo credit: Finetooth.