Will Rogers said, “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” This virus scare has put us in a hole. The mainstream media have done an excellent job of inciting fear. Of course, their success is in large part due to the grand achievement of the government schools to squelch that dangerous mental process called “critical thinking.”

If people, not you of course, but those other people who actually believe what politicians tell them, analyzed the facts, as opposed to drawing conclusions from knee jerk emotional responses to subliminal and not so subliminal inputs from the media, then these people, using newfound critical thinking skills, would conclude that this big scary monster under the bed, or in the closet, or perhaps on the doorknob, that we call a coronavirus is no more dangerous than the average flu.

Fact: The coronavirus has not increased the overall death rate in Washington state, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control. With the overall death rate unchanged, (we will ignore the huge increases in suicides and overdoses due to the government’s isolation mandates), it is indisputable that the coronavirus has not created a disaster. Certainly, the government’s behavior has created a disaster, but the virus itself has not.

Because the coronavirus has not increased the overall death rate, it is obvious that the coronavirus does not rise to the level of a public disaster.

Tyrant Inslee — tyrant as in “an absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution” — has invoked emergency powers on the grounds that there is a public disaster. When facts dispel the illusion of a disaster caused by the coronavirus, then the legal underpinning of enacting emergency powers evaporates.

In a nutshell, Inslee’s rule-by-mandate, or “personal rule” if you will, is unlawful: a virus that does not increase the overall death rate does not constitute a public disaster.

Furthermore, “the governor must terminate said state of emergency proclamation when order has been restored” per RCW 43.06.210. Because there is no disorder in society due to this virus, the state of emergency, by law, must be terminated. Inslee’s failure to terminate the state of emergency is a violation of the law. It follows that all proclaimed states of emergencies must only be enacted when there is disorder. Thanks to the politicians and the media, a great deal of unwarranted fear was generated, but there was never disorder caused by the coronavirus.

Lest we forget, the Declaration of Independence said the primary purpose of government is to secure individual rights. Inslee has waged war on our Bill of Rights. He has closed the churches, which is not only unlawful, it is an act of treason. “The Constitution sets certain lines that may not be crossed, even in an emergency,” U.S. District Judge William S. Stockman IV wrote in one of his decisions. No matter what is happening, government cannot lawfully close the church doors.

Inslee is unrestrained by law or constitution and therefore fits the definition of tyrant.

Must we dig ourselves deeper into a hole by obeying a tyrant? Civil disobedience is the right of every American. Climb out of the hole, leave the mask of obedience behind you, and exercise your rights.

Roger Whitten

Deer Park,

Eastern Washington