Author: How left-wing governors are using science as a smoke screen for their own agenda

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Left justifies power grab in the name of 'science'

Todd Myers, director of the Center for the Environment at Washington Policy Center, on how the left discarded science for power.

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While it is “very clear” the science pertaining to the novel coronavirus has not been fully understood, left-wing politicians are still claiming that broad lockdowns are justified, an environmental expert argued on “The Ingraham Angle.”

“[The science] is very new. What you hear though is politicians claiming they know very clearly what the science is. You see states doing very different things,” said Todd Myers, an author and the director of the Center for the Environment at the Washington Policy Center.

Myers, author of “Eco-Fads: How the Rise of Trendy Environmentalism Is Harming the Environment," said that Washington state was the only state to ban recreational fishing, and it was done in the “name of science" by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee.

“The problem with using science in that way when people clearly recognize that it is not the science that you’re following is that they become cynical. It’s like crying wolf too many times and they stop trusting science when we really need good science,” Myers said.

Host Laura Ingraham noted that the science behind wearing a mask to stop the spread of coronavirus is still unsettled.

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As most states begin to move forward with measures to reopen their economies following strict lockdowns aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, some governors and big-city mayors are now saying the restrictions will not fully be lifted until a vaccine or treatment for the disease is available — a timeline that could take a year or more.

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President Trump has said that the U.S. will reopen “vaccine or no vaccine,” and told governors in a call last week that the federal government “will step in if we see something going wrong, or if we disagree” with how states are lifting their lockdown orders aimed at preventing the virus’ spread.

“You, too, should expect to continue with this for the foreseeable future,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said of the state’s coronavirus restrictions, as he outlined when workers might be able to get back to their offices.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said that crowds would not be able to gather for professional or college sports in her state until a vaccine is available or there’s a rigorous testing regime in place with signs of herd immunity in the population.

“We’re gonna be in a new normal for quite a while. And it doesn’t mean that sports is over,” Whitmer said in a press conference Friday, mentioning a plan being pursued by the MLB to play a shortened season with no fans present.

In a new Wall Street Journal column, Myers said that Inslee and other Democrats are falsely asserting that the science about the coronavirus pandemic is settled, as they push to keep businesses closed.

"What is the true mortality rate? What is a safe social distance? How contagious is the virus? What percentage of carriers are asymptomatic? We still don’t know any of these facts with certainty," Myers wrote, calling it a "bluff designed to imply that their chosen policy is based on more than guesswork and politics."

Myers argued that Inslee has used the same "rhetorical tool" for years to explain his policies to combat climate change.

“In my area, the environment, the science is most important for farmers, for hunters, for others who care about wildlife, who care about taking care of the planet because if they don’t on their farm, they pay the price,” Myers told Ingraham.

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“Politicians, on the other hand, can use the word science to attack a political opponent, but, if they get it wrong, they don’t pay the price. It’s very important that when we use science, we locate it based on the people who are going to use it, who it impacts. They can see it for their own eyes and they’re going to make sure to get it right and make sure not to just use it against the people they don’t like.”