A handful of sheriffs in Washington State have said they won’t enforce the governor’s shutdown orders. But who are the state’s rural residents actually listening to?

Wow, interesting read - especially as a Seattle-area Washingtonian. I hope that most people continue to be smart about social distancing and wearing masks. Although less populated counties like Klickitat may not be as in-danger as larger areas, the demographics of the area make it more vulnerable.

What's crazy to me is how people call social distancing orders "unconstitutional" when there is clear precent of government protecting its citizens because of situations similar to pandemics. I understand the priority to keep constitutional rights (I actually wrote a devil's advocate argument for it in an essay last week), but having the right to bear arms or to free speech come with limitations circumstantially, and are even still protected without having gun shops or churches open - soldiers aren't knocking on doors to take away guns, or storming Zoom HQ to shut down all online weekly church meetings.

I also like the point made in this comment by u/mattahfackt on the article on /r/SeattleWa:

Still astonished about how our lil small potatoes Sheriffs are legal and constitutional scholars! Who needs the judicial branch or democratic representation when we can just ask Sheriff Bob to interpret and declare himself Supreme Leader of Klikitat County.

I'm surprised we still have a system that enables sheriffs to have this much power. Brings me back to John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on sheriffs and their power.