Does Phil Murphy get off on seeing people suffer?

/

By Rubashov

Do you remember this commercial from Phil Murphy’s first campaign for Governor? It details a traumatic event he suffered as a child of 13… at the hands of a rapacious restaurant owner.

Well, Phil Murphy grew up, made a lot of money on Wall Street, married into a privileged family, got himself elected Governor of a major northeastern state, and became its most powerful chief executive ever. Unlike every Governor in the past, Phil Murphy rules as he pleases, without legislative constraints, barely with judicial constraints. Like an old-fashioned monarch… or a modern authoritarian. By instinct or whim – and getting away with it.

So… is it payback time?

Where is that restaurant owner his dad had to straighten out all those many years ago? Maybe he’s dead? Maybe the restaurant is long gone?

Maybe he’s gone and so everyone suffers in his place? Because, for Murphy, maybe the pain is not gone? And now, at long last, he’s in a position to do something about it.

According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is typically the most lucrative holiday of the year for restaurant owners, with millions of families dining at restaurants. According to National Restaurant Association research in 2018, approximately 87 million adults said they would dine out on Mother's Day.

This year, Mother’s Day falls on Sunday May 9th.

And so, restaurant owners across New Jersey waited anxiously to hear Governor Murphy’s announcement today on a relaxation of COVID restrictions and the extended openings and venue capacities that have become a staple of such announcements. They waited and hoped, as the supplicants of old once did, powerless, without representation, for a beneficent nod from their absolute ruler.

But it did not come. There was no reprieve. Was that 13-year-old boy, the dish-washer who got screwed by the restaurant owner, having his fourth or fifth slice of revenge? Soon the pie will be gone (no matter, Murphy will send out for another).

And “the science”? We’ve moved well beyond that, haven’t we? Unless Dr. Fauci can tell us that the virus respects the borders with states like Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Anyway, there is no need for Murphy to explain himself as to why he is making the restaurant owners, their families, employees, and patrons suffer – when he won’t even explain why he issued executive orders that sent thousands in nursing and veterans’ homes to their deaths.

No, if there is an explanation in science to all this, it will be found in psychology.

“Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged promulgation of law by a single person or group, and is used primarily by dictators, absolute monarchs and military leaders.”

Wikipedia

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez ruled Venezuela by decree in 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2012.  Between 2004 and 2006 alone, Chávez declared 18 "emergencies" to rule by decree.

Chávez's successor, Nicolás Maduro, has also ruled by decree multiple times since he was elected in April 2013. President Maduro has ruled Venezuela by decree for the majority of the period from November 2013 through 2018.