NJ Governor Murphy’s COVID-19 Double Standard Toward the Demonstrators

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy arrests, fines, and strips people of their licenses and livelihoods for defying his lockdown orders. He threatens business coalitions, telling them “you’re playing with fire” for contemplating opening their businesses before he allows it. He bans outdoor gathers larger than 25. He arrogantly dismisses his critics. When counties and legislators request the ability to “open the economy” based on local conditions, Murphy refuses, saying we act as “one state” because “it takes a village”. After the indignity of dividing New Jersey businesses and workers into “non-essential” (expendable) and “essential” (non-expendable) categories, Murphy has the nerve to do nothing but “urge caution” to the George Floyd protestors who brazenly flout his orders. Where are the warnings not to “play with fire”? Where are the arrests? Where do we see the police moving in to shut down the Floyd protests, the way he does with private businesses? What of his “one state” principle? Where is his precious “village”? What happened to “saving lives”? What happened to “public health” comes first? What happened to “We’re all in this together”?

Murphy apparently senses his own double standard. In Gov. Murphy to N.J. protesters: ‘I think you should get tested’ for coronavirus', Alex Napoliello and Brent Johnson report:

On Monday, Murphy drew a sharp distinction between these demonstrations and recent protests calling for him to lift New Jersey’s coronavirus restrictions faster and reopen more businesses.

“I don’t want to make light of this, and I’ll probably get lit up by everyone who owns a nail salon in the state,” Murphy said. “But it’s one thing to protest what day nail salons are opening, and it’s another to come out in peaceful protest, overwhelmingly, about somebody who was murdered right before our eyes."

Get that? People can protest Minneapolis police abuse of power, but cannot protest Governor Murphy’s abuse of power. Where does the U.S. or NJ constitution favor one protest over another? The First Amendment protects “the right of the people . . . to petition the government for a redress of grievances”. That goes for the Floyd protestors and lockdown protestors equally, regardless of whether you are part of a mass protest or the sole owner of a nail salon. What authority does Murphy have to treat them differently? None. The 14th Amendment guarantees the equal protection of the law for every individual, regardless of number.

This is a man who pledged, “I, Philip Dunton Murphy, elected governor of the State of New Jersey, do solemnly promise and swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey,” and then declared that the Bill of Rights--the first 10 Amendments to the U.S Constitution--is “above my pay grade”. I guess the 14th Amendment is above his pay grade, too. Murphy’s unending executive orders directly violate the NJ Constitution, which says only the legislature can make law. Murphy’s digressions are laid bare. He violated his oath of office to “solemnly promise and swear” to support the Constitutions of the United States and of NJ. Murphy shouldn’t just get “lit up”. He should be impeached. 

Related Reading:

Steve Politi’s Cold Collectivist Attack on Two NJ Gym Businessmen Points to Broader Danger to Our Liberty

New Jersey’s Political Attack on Takeout Food Delivery Service Providers

The Tyranny of Occupational Licensure is exposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic

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