It seems to me that rage at the devil-may-care right has blinded some progressives to reality. It’s created a bubble where giving an inch on the COVID rules is some kind of defeat in an imaginary battle of righteousness. In this bubble wearing masks just isn’t that a big of a deal and the rules don’t have to be defended on the merits because anyone complaining about them must ipso facto be in league with the anti-vaxxers and the shirtless freaks screaming at school boards about Toni Morrison’s sex life and thus should be ignored.

But here’s the problem, only about 3 in 10 Americans seem to be in this bubble with you. There are a lot of people who aren’t soldiers in the COVID Crusade and for them wearing a mask might not be a big deal but it is certainly a big annoyance. They are “vaxxed and done.” They are tired of their kids carrying the burden for a virus that is exceedingly unlikely to harm them. They are working long days in service jobs and tired of having to be the front-line mask cops.

These people have been happy to do the right thing for two years now. But they recognize that what they’ve been doing is a sacrifice in service of the greater good. It’s not part of some blind, unquestioned loyalty to a political tribe.

So they rightly bristle when their leaders give the appearance of thinking themselves too important to make that sacrifice alongside everyone else. Can you blame them when they start to mock and mistrust the politicians who continue to mandate rules that they themselves don’t follow?