I was driving down a four-lane highway this last weekend with my son in the backseat when a state police cruiser passed us on the left going very quickly. I'm not good at estimating speeds like that, but I was traveling the legal limit of 65 mph (aren't we all when there's a cop in the rear-view mirror?) and the man in blue zipped around at least 15-20 mph faster.
In fact, he was moving so quickly that it provoked my son to look up from his Nintendo Switch and ask, "Why is the policeman going so fast?" I told him that I didn't know, but that the officer looked like he was on an important mission. As is the case with young boys, that only engendered more questions like, "Why didn't he have his lights and siren on then? I thought when they were on a mission or doing police things they turned those on?" When I didn't really have an answer, he decided that being a cop would be fun because you could go however fast you wanted, whenever you wanted, as long as you were in your police car. I laughed and told him that's not really how it's supposed to work.
Nothing more came of the conversation, but God did use the situation to reemphasize in my mind the importance of setting a good example in speech and conduct. As a parent, I need to be reminded of that. As a teacher and preacher, I need it even more for this intimidating reason: authorities have the duty to exemplify the kind of conduct they desire from others, because if they don't it will undermine confidence not only in them personally, but also in the legitimacy and seriousness of their policy.
Later that same afternoon, the day's news brought a prime example of this very reality:
It's no secret that former President Barack Obama is an elite. He is exceedingly wealthy, keeps company with the extremely well-heeled, and is a darling of the world's biggest and richest entertainers, athletes, and artists. Anyone who ever thought that Obama understood or empathized with the plight of a middle-class working man got duped by the political propaganda machine that exists to make suckers out of us all.
Because of this, precisely no one should be shocked or even bothered by the fact that the former president was throwing himself a monstrous birthday bash to be attended by a who's who of the rich and famous. One is not miraculously healed of narcissism just by leaving the White House after all.
But the optics of a social soirée on Martha's Vineyard with hundreds of maskless guests, all while those same elites attending are warning the masses about the potential for more business lockdowns to avoid COVID spread? They are downright hideous.
To torture the analogy, it's a parade of state cops – who have spent months lecturing your son about the need to drive under the speed limit – zipping past your car going 110 just because they can.
And just like my son, this will provoke questions in thinking people. How serious can our leaders really be about the Delta variant and its ugly stepson Delta+ if they're doing this?
Further, all the supposed watchdog media types are committed to calling out any and every event designed by and for ordinary people to enjoy:
Why are they disinterested in publicly holding the elite Obama class to the same standard? How serious can any of this be if the people who are demanding all of us sacrifice our happiness for safety are not doing that themselves?
- Democrat Mayor Lightfoot wants lockdowns and mask mandates, but only after she enjoys her Lollapalooza.
- Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser wants lockdowns and mask mandates, but won't wear one herself at a massive wedding extravaganza with hundreds of wealthy guests.
- And in a double dose of progressive hypocrisy, Climate Czar John Kerry not only attends the Obama rager at his palatial Martha's Vineyard estate, but reportedly took a carbon-belching, climate-polluting private jet to get there. In other words, Kerry doesn't really believe any of the left's nonsense about COVID or climate. It's all for the act, all for the grift, all for the show.
Again, I don't bemoan wealthy people having their expensive, red-carpet birthday bashes. If Stephen Colbert wants to get together with Chrissy Teigen and John Legend and sip champagne with Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade amid ice sculptures, flower gardens, and manicured lawns, more power to them.
But let's just be clear that if they're getting on with their lives without guilt or shame, the rest of us can too.
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