COLUMN: Gov. Kemp caught between a rock and a hard place

Last month, when it first became apparent that this COVID-19 virus was going to cause a major disruption to all of our lives, an acquaintance of mine remarked on what he hoped would be a silver lining to this tragedy. He thought that people in our country might be forced put aside their partisan differences and work together to defeat this nasty invisible invader and that some of that unity of purpose might remain after the crisis passed.

I told him that was a nice sentiment but I was not optimistic that we would be able to unite for very long even in the face of a frightening pandemic. I suspected that the partisan divisions that bedevil us these days are just too ingrained in the fabric of our society to be overcome even by a shared tragedy like the one we’re experiencing.

I have to admit that in the early-going it seemed that I had been too pessimistic. We all seemed to accept the wisdom of the shelter-in-place order issued by our Governor even as we saw our economy go into a tailspin. Congress was even able to pass a bipartisan economic relief package in what would have to be classified as record time.

But over the last few weeks we’ve started to see the same old partisan divide between left and right rear its ugly head. Right-wing groups started holding public protests last week demanding an end to stay-at-home orders in effect for most US states. Some Republican Party luminaries (including President Trump) have shown sympathy to their cause, in defiance of cautions from public health officials and medical authorities who say it is premature to relax social distancing restrictions.

One wouldn’t think that combating a virus would be something that would break down along partisan lines, but maybe the conflict was inevitable. After all, there’s a lot of anger and frustration out there, and it’s hard to direct that anger at virus that is too small to see.

But targeting our frustration at Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, or a Governor who is disrupting our lives by making us stay at home all the time is much more familiar and satisfying approach to dealing with our unhappiness. I suppose it was just a matter of time before we found a way to blame people we already didn’t like for our misery.

This past week our state became a flashpoint in this partisan dispute when Governor Brian Kemp announced an aggressive plan to reopen many businesses in the state by April 27. Fitness centers, bowling alleys, tattoo parlors, and hair stylists were allowed to reopen this past Friday. Movie theaters and restaurants will be allowed to open tomorrow.

Since announcing this reopening plan Kemp has been on the receiving end of heavy criticism for jumping the gun while the state is still experiencing a high volume of new infections and our testing capacity is judged to be inadequate.

The criticism is being leveled from many sources, including mayors of Georgia largest cities (Kemp’s order prevents them from maintaining more stringent restrictions on local businesses) and numerous public health experts around the country.

But his decision has been met with approval from the far right. That’s only added fuel to the accusations that Kemp’s decision was made to fend off the wrath of his political base and to placate his benefactor in the White House, who is very eager to see the economy get back in gear to bolster his reelection prospects.

I agree that Kemp is moving too fast in reopening businesses in the state, but I’m not inclined to come down too hard on the man. The economic consequences of continuing to keep our businesses shuttered would be devastating, and he’s caught between a rock and a hard place here. I wonder if he’s having any second thoughts about whether or not wanting to be governor was such a great idea.

Bill Ferguson is a resident of Warner Robins. Readers can write him at fergcolumn@hotmail.com.