Liberal Hypocrisy: Some Are More Equal Than Others

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a grueling challenge on many fronts. It has been a public health crisis, an economic crisis, and a social crisis all at the same time. In a frantic race to stunt the spread of the virus, 43 U.S. states issued orders between March and April 2020 directing residents to stay at home except for essential activities. On top of that, all nonessential businesses were ordered to shut down immediately. The current pandemic is, as Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito put it, “a constitutional stress test,” having led to the most “severe, extensive, and prolonged” restrictions that the U.S. has ever seen. 

Although stay-at-home orders and limitations on businesses were issued across the country, Democratic state and local leaders generally implemented longer and harsher restrictions than their Republican counterparts did. One would, of course, expect those who have constantly clamored for mask mandates and stricter lockdown measures to take these policies more seriously. However, many left-wing leaders seemed to have conveniently exempted themselves from following their own rules. While millions of Americans have languished under their draconian restrictions, some left-wing leaders have gone about their daily activities as usual in an effort to maintain their elite lifestyle.  

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had won plaudits in March 2020 for announcing the first statewide stay-at-home order in the U.S., was caught attending a lobbyist’s birthday party indoors at a fancy restaurant with 11 other maskless people sitting close together, breaking multiple of his own guidelines. Just a few days before the dinner party incident, Newsom also revealed that his children had gone back to in-person learning at their private school, at a time when most public schools in California remained closed, and millions of California kids were confined to distance learning at home. As former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer tweeted, “His kids can learn in person. But yours can’t. He can celebrate birthday parties. But you can’t.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful elected Democrat at the time, was seen getting her hair done without properly wearing a mask inside a hair salon in San Francisco where salons were still forbidden from operating at the time. Ironically, she had repeatedly lectured and chided others for failing to follow coronavirus safety protocols, calling President Trump a “coward” and accusing Republicans of being anti-science. Yet she readily flouted the mask requirement as well as the local ordinances on salons. As if this wasn’t bad enough, not only did she not apologize for her hypocritical behavior, but she even accused the salon owner of trying to set her up when she was fully aware of the rules. 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also pushed her way into a hair salon that was closed under the state governor’s lockdown order. When asked about her blatant hypocrisy, Lightfoot said, “I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye.” Later she celebrated Biden’s presidential victory with a mask under her chin in a large crowd despite her insistence on proper mask wearing and her own rules against mass gatherings. Again, she didn’t apologize. Instead, she justified her decision to join the pro-Biden street crowd by saying, “that crowd was gathered whether I was there or not.”  

Left-wing leaders love touting the purity of their motives and their unwavering commitment to the highest ideals—they openly support a whole range of such humanitarian policies as progressive taxation, affirmative action, and welfare assistance. Yet deep down they view themselves as the true elites of society who are destined to control and rule the masses. Hidden beneath their supposed righteousness lie an unquenchable thirst for absolute power and the belief that “some animals are more equal than others.” 

Matthew Xiao is a senior studying economics and mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences. The Cornell Review publishes guest submissions and Letters to the Editor.