That Ban on Mask Mandates Isn’t Really a Ban at All
MINOT, N.D. — Rep. Jeff Hoverson, a member of the Bastiat Caucus from Minot, has had exactly one legislative victory this session, and it came yesterday when the state House and Senate overrode Gov. Doug Burgum’s veto of his bill banning statewide mask mandates.
I wonder how Hoverson’s constituents in District 3 feel about their representative introducing 11 bills this session, and only two of them even made it past a House vote?
Does that sound like the resume of an effective policymaker who is serving his community well?
Hoverson’s only accomplishment this session was House Bill 1323, the ban on state mask mandates.
Burgum was correct to veto the bill. As he explained to me on an episode of Plain Talk Live yesterday, the conservative position on masks is that they should be a tool available to help head off public health crises like the COVID-19 outbreak. If we turn resistance to masks into a partisan political cause, what do we accomplish? Other than to exacerbate public health impacts to the degree that they incur more costs for the government.
Since when are conservatives for bigger government?
