I'm a Michigander.

For Easter 2020, my family defied the governor's stay-at-home order to go be with family. We watched beloved, multi-generational businesses close forever because they were ordered to remain shuttered for months. We watched other business owners get arrested under Whitmer's edicts for daring to stay open.

Heck, we couldn't buy plants and seeds because Whitmer ordered entire aisles of our stores closed.

In winter 2021, we drove 35 minutes to the nearest restaurant that had the courage to defy the governor, and waited 50 minutes in the cold to pack into a full house where we could enjoy laughter and ambiance again.

My own children were taken out of school for nearly a year, "learning" on iPads to appease the State while we immersed them in as many playdates and educational excursions as possible. Because so many families and friendships fractured over Covid policies, this became harder and harder.

When my kids returned to class, they were forced to be masked and taught to fear this boogeyman of a virus that they had already contracted twice (and experienced nearly no symptoms either time).

This is why this statement from Gretchen Whitmer makes me mad:

It's dishonest, Your Majesty. See, we've been paying attention to your authoritarian despotism here at Not The Bee.

Of course, these don't specifically address schools, which is why I'm more than happy that Corey A. DeAngelis brought these receipts:

And here's Gov. Ron DeSantis' deputy press secretary:

And the governor's own infographics:

What Whitmer is doing is appealing to the fact that her formal, statewide edict to close down all schools unilaterally was only for one semester. A large part of this was that she had limited authority to extend emergency orders under the Michigan state constitution – something the Supreme Court of Michigan reprimanded her for... twice.

The constitution has now been amended to strip the governor of abusing emergency powers due to a massive ballot measure from voters that allowed the legislature to bypass the governor's veto.

What she is ignoring, obviously, is that she weaponized her department of health and other bureaucratic offices to pressure business owners and local authorities around the state. Sure, local schools might be able to open, but they faced the full weight of her administrative power and fellow local authorities that were all-too-eager to follow her lead.

In my own county, the outgoing leader of the health department mirrored Whitmer's orders, which our leftist school boards then used as an excuse to extend closures. He went as far as to call anyone who disagreed with these orders a conspiratorial extremist, linking angry parents to the January 6 riot and the death of democracy.

And for the record, my county is one of the relatively conservative ones!

You can say your order only went 3 months as a technicality, but that's like locking someone in a room, warning them they'll be beaten to a pulp if they try to escape, then quietly unlocking the door and leaving them in there.

"I technically only locked the door for 5 minutes! The rest of the day you were free to go!"

This angle isn't endearing anyone to you, Queen Gretch. I would respect you if you admitted you were wrong and pledged to have a more balanced approach the next time there's a crisis. I don't hate you, but I hate what you've let totalitarian ideology do to you and to every one of your fellow Michiganders through you.

Your inability to admit your failure and your continued push for insanely extremist things like this ballot's Proposal 3 makes us think you really don't care about anything other than pride and power.

I'll let Whitmer's GOP opponent Tudor Dixon play me out: