Masking Agent

Today’s dispatch from the Tar Heel State, my current home, regards brave legislators working to keep the citizenry safe. Or something like that. 

North Carolina’s Republican-controlled General Assembly recently passed a bill that potentially criminalizes the wearing of face masks for any reason other than as part of a costume. Because nothing reflects conservative ideology like restricting choice and making people think twice about how they look and react to their surroundings. 

NC House Bill 237 of course comes mounted on the mantel of law enforcement, hence its title: the Unmasking Mobs and Criminals bill. It would increase the penalties for those who commit crimes while wearing a face mask and attempting to conceal their identity. What it also does is repeal a measure that was instituted early in the COVID-19 pandemic that permitted the state or various localities to implement mask mandates in the name of public health. 

Republicans say they’re simply fighting crime. Critics of the bill say that the elderly or those with compromised immune systems, or those who simply want an extra layer of protection in crowds and public spaces, can now be targeted by the po-po for wearing a face mask. GOP Sen. Eldon “Buck” Newton, the bill’s sponsor and an attorney by trade, said he was befuddled about opposition to the measure, which passed the Senate 30-15 on straight party lines. He accused critics of a basic misunderstanding of law enforcement and of using scare tactics to suggest that anyone wearing a mask can be arrested. He told Charlotte’s ABC affiliate, “I would like to meet the law enforcement officer or the DA that wants to prosecute Granny for wearing a mask in the Walmart. Unless she got arrested sticking steaks in her bag and trying to conceal her identity – then I could see it happening – and that’s what this bill is designed to address.” 

Hard to argue with the earnest intentions of a man who after college served as an aide to conservative grenade launcher and noted race-baiter Sen. Jesse Helms, and who during a campaign for attorney general several years ago told a crowd that those who wave rainbow flags are “upset about the way things have always been in this state” and to go back and tell family and friends “how hard we must fight to keep our state straight.” 

The House bill’s face mask repeal received most of the attention, but the conservative majority also included down-bill language that would exempt religious institutions from having to follow executive orders or even state or local government orders and restrictions. It also ratcheted up criminal penalties for demonstrators who block roads and highways, and it allows for civil liability against demonstration organizers if emergency vehicles are ruled to have been impeded from reaching victims. Decide for yourself how latter parts of the bill “unmask” mobs and criminals. Or former parts of the bill, for that matter. 

To be fair, the bill hasn’t yet reached the state House of Representatives, so it’s not law. If and when it does, there’s no reason to think it won’t pass easily. The legislature has Republican veto-proof majorities in both chambers – 30-20 in the Senate, 71-49 in the House – thanks largely to gerrymandered voting districts that exist at both the state and Congressional level. 

The “Unmasking” bill is of a piece with a good deal of Republican legislation and posturing that’s often accompanied by appeals to freedom and fear. Eliminating face masks is about catching criminals. Punishing protesters is about law and order. Vaccine requirements and pandemic mitigation measures are unwanted government intrusion. Voter registration hurdles and voter roll purges are about election integrity despite scant evidence of fraud. Abortion restrictions aren’t about women’s rights and women’s health but the sanctity of human life. Measures to reduce gun violence are an assault on the Constitution. Immigration restrictions are about stemming the tide of all those illegal undesirables. Broad health care and expanded safety nets are socialist giveaways to people who don’t deserve it. Opposition to LGBTQ rights and bathroom accommodations is a bulwark against deviants and predators. Regulation and oversight of corporations are a drag on capitalism and free enterprise. 

Both sides of the political aisle are complicit in our present dysfunction. No getting around that. But it’s clear that some will discard masks to score cheap points in one area while using them elsewhere for greater gain.