He calls it “Safer at Home,” as opposed to his previous “Stay at Home” order. When he discussed it a few days earlier at a press conference it was supposed to be the first step in opening up the state. However, in close examination this order is more like doubling down on the orders to keep Colorado closed, keeping everyone in something that looks a lot like house arrest and overall keeping a tight control on all we do in Colorado for the next 30 days… at least.
George Orwell had a word for this kind of rhetoric. He called it “doublespeak.” This is when the government says one thing, and in fact does the opposite. Another literary example of this manipulation of the public through shrewdly constructed press statements can be found in C.S. Lewis’ book “That Hideous Strength.” In it the protagonist is hired to deceive the public with newspaper articles which made completely repulsive public policies sound reasonable and even desirable.
In “Safer at Home” the governor is actually consolidating his power by ordering the state health department and local health districts to also issue orders that reinforce his orders. He continues to make every order at least 30 days long, even though the law only allows him to declare an emergency for no more than 30 days at a time, and then issue orders within that limited time frame. Counties are required to go through a complex system of approvals if they want to modify the strict standards of his statewide orders. And for those of us older than 65? We are still under the more strict Stay at Home order.
Some businesses are allowed to operate in a very limited fashion, but in all cases we are being treated like subjects rather than free citizens. At this point of controlling the effects of this epidemic and properly managing a collapsing economy the decision making authority should be returned to the citizens. Instead we see a governor who is gathering all of the power to himself and his centralized government system.
This “new normal” cannot be allowed to continue.
IT WILL NOT MAKE THE VIRUS GO AWAY but it will undermine our inalienable, Constitutionally guaranteed rights
I am just giving a brief overview of his six page executive order, which was followed by a 34 page order from the state health department. For a more detailed and much longer description of the governor’s orders I highly recommend Rob Natelson’s article in Complete Colorado. https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/…/natelson-latest-cov…/
If you read Mr. Natelson’s article be prepared to be frustrated and confused. Not by his writing, for he is clear and concise, but by the complex, controlling and oblique commands the governor has created.
