Dakota Beacon

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”  C. S. Lewis

The Emergency Powers Act in Minnesota - the law which gives the governor extraordinary and unconstitutional power to dictate, to override the people's rights to earn a living, to socialize with friends and family, to dine in restaurants, go to salons, gyms, etc., was passed as recently as 2002.   It was revised in 2004.  When one stops to think about this, it seems utterly ridiculous.  It might have made some kind of sense back in 1867, when Minnesota was in its early days.  It just makes no sense now.  Or, for that matter, in 2002.  

Across the nation we are seeing abuse of these executive powers by governors.  Governor Cuomo of New York so badly abused his powers that the Democrat-controlled state legislature is now looking at impeachment.  In California the people aren’t even waiting for their legislature - they have a recall initiative well underway.  Other governors have been equally abusive, if less prominent.  

The governor of Minnesota has exerted these extraordinary powers over the citizens of his state now for nearly a year.  It has had a devastating effect on the people and the economy.    Why should any governor have these powers?  And if someone can think of a legitimate reason, why are they not narrowly construed?  Very narrowly?  In 2021, there is no reason for a governor to have these powers for any reason, really.  We have instantaneous ability to communicate with one another today.  It might once have seemed that someone in the state capitol might have needed the ability to act in an emergency (such as wildfires, tornadoes and other extreme weather conditions, floods, earthquakes or manmade disaster situations) in an era when it took days to get from far-flung counties to the capitol to take legislative action to address an urgent matter of public safety.  In a time when the very nature of the “emergency” has people working remotely over their computers, phones, Zoom, etc., there is no reason why a necessary action could not be taken up by a legislature.  At the very least, such emergency powers should never last more than a week and should not be renewable, but should need to be specially enacted each time after that.  

A cautionary note - no legislature should feel itself empowered to act counter to the U.S. Constitution.  The 14th Amendment states, in part, “. . . No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”  These “executive power” statutes clearly violate this Constitutional guarantee.  They could only have ever been justified in the very short term to address an acute danger that could not be dealt with any other way.  

For that matter, our state legislatures have no business either affirming these abusive powers or codifying them.  The 14th Amendment applies to state legislatures as well as to governors.  As American citizens we are protected from “mandates” about social distancing, wearing of masks, being forced to close or limit our businesses.  There has never been a sound reason for any of this and every day we are seeing proof that none of it works.  

I focus here on Minnesota because its governor has stood out as an abuser of power.  In my small city at least three restaurants have closed permanently.   As a border city the pressure on them was impossible to withstand.  Also as a border city, we have few other businesses to sustain the local community.  Governor Walz has destroyed some totally already and others are struggling.  It is not just what has already happened, it is the uncertainty of the future here with a capricious state executive playing God with our economy.  

None of this is accidental.  It is by design.  We must protect ourselves now from any further exploitation of this over-blown virus “crisis”.  We need to rescind all such powers totally.  And we should caution our state legislatures, while we’re at it, that they had better re-read the Constitution with special emphasis on the 14th Amendment and the limitation on their right to misuse their office to illegally infringe upon our rights.

"The worst form of tyranny the world has ever known is the tyranny of the weak over the strong. It is the only tyranny that lasts." Oscar Wilde.

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