I know the knee-jerk reaction might be to be angry about this question but please hear me out.

In a democracy we live with decisions made by voters every day. Each person gets a say in this society and we live with those consequences good or bad. Maybe you didn’t want a spending referendum passed in your school district but it passed anyway because most did. Maybe you didn’t want marijuana legalized in New Jersey but the vast majority of voters did.

I’m not thrilled about the idea of sending my kids back to school wearing masks. But if this were a ballot question a Monmouth University poll shows it would pass in a landslide.

A landslide is what you call when Republican Gov. Tom Kean won re-election over challenger Peter Shapiro in 1985. It was 70% to 29%.

If the results of the Monmouth University poll were an election it would be a landslide. 69% of parents want children wearing masks in school while this Delta variant continues to ratchet up. If you crunch the numbers to include voters who are not parents? Still a landslide. 67%.

Nothing is 100%, not even the vaccines. But despite the constant misinformation doled eagerly out by irresponsible hacks in media, wearing masks to slow the spread of COVID-19 is settled science. I’m not thrilled about this either. The moment the mask mandate ended I stopped wearing one. Then the mutation came along and it has changed everything.

Even if you don’t believe in science, do you believe in democracy?

Society at some point has to make a decision. We elected someone who represents us as governor who has made that decision. It’s how our republic works. Now, if you don’t like the decisions he’s making we have an election coming up and you can vote against him.

As I am.

I will be voting for Jack Ciattarelli. I’m a registered Republican who believes overall Ciattarelli will be a far better governor. Will I ever agree on all issues with any candidate? Never.

And Murphy did botch the nursing home situation early in the pandemic and the feds continue to look into it. Murphy did screw over many businesses by telling restaurants with only 72 hours to go that they would not be open for indoor dining in July of ‘20 after all. Murphy has been inconsistent on things throughout the pandemic. And his not shoring up the unemployment system as he put so many people out of work was in my opinion malfeasance. His half-assed reopening of MVC was another nightmare.

But the shutdown was necessary. For awhile, but went on too long. The masking was scientifically sound, even though I hate it.

I give him a C on the pandemic.

The Monmouth poll?

When asked if Murphy had done a good job or a bad job handling the pandemic NJ voters say good job by 61%.

When asked if the measures taken by the state government to slow the spread of the virus have been appropriate, gone too far, or not far enough? 45% say appropriate and 24% say not far enough. Add that up to 69%.

There’s no fun way to work ourselves out of a pandemic that’s raging again and now hurting younger people. It’s killed 628,000 people in the United States. It’s not over yet and it’s getting worse again. These are facts.

Facts aren’t fun. They’re the Debbie Downer in the room when people are trying to flex their no-one’s-gonna-tell-me-what-to-do bravado. You’re not afraid of a virus. Good for you. But you’re afraid of a mask proven safe and effective?

You say you love democracy, but you only love it when it goes your way.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.

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