Empower Wisconsin | July 13, 2020

MADISON — Who was that masked man? 

Don’t ask, don’t tell, according to the overreaching health officials who brought Madison and Dane County the ridiculous mask mandate.

Asking someone about their face covering — or why they’re not wearing one — could be construed as racist, they insist. 

Seriously? 

Yes. 

“People should assume others have valid reasons for wearing or not wearing a face covering,” states the new order that, beginning today, requires everyone over 5 to don a mask inside public buildings around the county. Well, kind of.  

“Additionally, some people of color in the U.S. have experienced harassment and racism due to wearing a face covering in public. The following Order should not be used as justification to harass or harm another person who is either wearing or not wearing a face covering,” the order asserts. 

That’s what we call a dodge. 

Madison Dane Public Health Officer Janel  Heinrich and the unelected bureaucrat’s lawyers know the new edict is on shaky legal ground. And how on earth are they going to enforce it? There isn’t a fleet of police wagons big enough to hold all of the offenders. Once the mask police begin issuing fines, a pending civil liberties lawsuit now in federal court might be just the tip of the iceberg. 

The big government liberals that run Madison and Dane County might just be smart enough to know that the mask order — ostensibly to save citizens from an uptick in COVID-19 cases — is more trouble than its worth. 

But the same government officials that have shuttered businesses and locked down churches are more power-hungry than they are reasonable. So they want the best of both worlds — complete control over the lives of Dane County residents but none of the legal liability. 

They are too clever by half. They are tools. 

Empower Wisconsin’s Tool of the Week.