Americans are increasingly done with mandates in the name of fighting COVID. After almost two years, most have gone back to their pre-pandemic lives and just won’t obey orders from the hysteria echo chamber.
Consider Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recent mask-or-vax mandate. More than 30 New York county executives have publicly refused to enforce it, using terms like “Gestapo tactics” and “mask police.”
And not just Republican execs: The Democrats in charge of Nassau and Suffolk counties balked, too.
Other leaders are backing off on mandates because the rank and file won’t play along. Take President Biden’s beloved Amtrak, which rescinded its mandate, set to hit Jan. 4, that would’ve forced 17,000 employees to get vaccinated or go on unpaid leave.
And the Los Angeles Unified School District postponed its vaccine mandate until fall 2022 after realizing 28,000 students would be barred from in-person classes.
Hospitals and health care systems have also backed off their mandates (including Tenet Healthcare, HCA Healthcare, the Cleveland Clinic and AdventHealth) to avoid labor shortages.
It’s time for the nation’s leaders to fall back to simply offering advice in most cases: Issuing orders that won’t be obeyed is worse than foolish.