Taking Back Our State, Part III: The Inslee Legacy — The Covid Lockdown

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

—George Santayana, The Life of Reason (1905)

This story is Part III of a three-part series that proclaims: It’s time we get back to basics, especially after many years of the most extreme Left agenda in the history of Washington State. It’s time to defend life; defend the innocence of children; and defend religious liberty. Yet the legacy of three-term Gov. Jay R. Inslee (2013-present) includes targeting:

Life, via abortion
The Innocence of Children, via pro-homosexual and pro-transgender policies
Liberty, especially churches, via Covid lockdowns

In this three-part series, we document the attacks from Governor Inslee. We document them so that you might know them and share them with your friends and family — our cultural apologetic needs to be equipped with historical facts. We have lived through history, and may we never forget this part of the story of our beloved state. And the story of our Evergreen State is not over. FPIW is on the move, and a new vision is taking back ground. It’s time we take back our home.

Part I: 200,000 Abortions
Part II: Pushing Homosexual Indoctrination
Part III: The Covid Lockdown

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Remember Covid mandates? Remember the lockdown? Remember fear and confusion?

Some of the most memorable policies in the history of Washington State took place during Governor Jay Inslee’s reign — and we will never forget this aim on our basic liberties in general, and specifically his impact on churches. Defending religious liberty is one of FPIW’s core issues; and as this story from the Covid era unfolds, we will see heroic people stand to protect our sacred liberty.

Few people may want to remember Inslee’s mandates, but remember we must — in order to make sure it never happens again. Looking back, many people today believe mandates were an overreaction fueled by hysteria, Big Pharma, social distancing tracking, a push for transhumanism, and a desire for a biomedical security state. Furthermore, many today consider Covid merely another type of the flu. The flu was merely relabeled, they say. See the chart below where the flu seems to disappear during the same time as Covid cases spiked.

Hysteria and confusion and misinformation were common. Civil liberties were threatened – see the quotation from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch below. Dr. Marty A. Makary of John Hopkins University School of Medicine testified before Congress about Covid. He said: “The greatest perpetrator of misinformation during the pandemic has been the U.S. government” — and Inslee was a major player here in Washington State.

The Lockdown

The wielding of force by Governor Jay Inslee was unprecedented in the history of Washington State, and his mandates harmed thousands upon thousands of individuals, businesses, and even churches. In one famous moment, Inslee issued an unprecedented lockdown on March 23, 2020:

. . . to impose a Stay Home – Stay Healthy Order throughout Washington State by prohibiting all people in Washington State from leaving their homes or participating in social, spiritual and recreational gatherings of any kind regardless of the number of participants, and all non-essential businesses in Washington State from conducting business.

In a TV address, he was specific:

This order will immediately ban all gatherings of people for social, spiritual, and recreational purposes. This includes everything that affects the old and the young in our state. If you want to have parties on the beach, or play pickup basketball at the park, or have sleepovers, these are no longer allowed for at least a couple of weeks. This applies to some of the most important gatherings in people’s lives, like weddings and funerals.

The lockdown began. We were told it would be short lived, such as “14 days to flatten the curve” — yet his use of emergency powers lasted 975 days, or some two and half years. Overall, there were:

Mask mandates
Vax mandates
Social distancing mandates
Proof of vaccination required in order to enter buildings

See pictures below of examples taken from our local areas of Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, and Mill Creek. Here is a link to a timeline of Covid closures and restrictions.

Basic Questions

Here are a few basic questions to consider:

Should a governor be allowed to regulate sleepovers, wedding, funerals, and close “non-essential” businesses?
How about mandate masks for entry into common places, such as to buy food at grocery stores?
How about mandate vaccines in order for you to keep one’s job?
How about micromanage churches in terms of how many people can attend, how communion is served, and how many people can sing?

Inslee did all these things and more. The pressure to wear a mask and to get a vax was immense. Bill Gates was of course a major player in the vax push, and Inslee was his Covid ally. There are other connections: Inslee’s daughter in law Emily Inslee has been employed at the Gates Foundation, as has his former Chief of Staff, Mary Alice Heuschel.

You’re Fired

Thousands were fired for refusing to take the vax. Kathleen Moriarty, for instance, was fired after 18 years at the Port of Seattle. (See “Jab, or Job” video below.) It impacted all state employees. It was “Termination Day.” People’s lives were devastated, and they lost their livelihood.

The Harm

Such a stand against the vax was reasonable since there is documented harm easily available. For instance, the VAERS database is a government database co-managed by the CDC and the FDA. It stands for “Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.” See openvaers.com. It tracks the harm done by vaccines by reports submitted by doctors. Here are the official statistics for the nation, which show more than 37,000 vax deaths, as well as data for Washington State specifically:

233 — People Dead by Vax
448 — Life Threatened
597 — Permanently Disabled
236 — Myocarditis (Heart)
78 — Babies Dead by Miscarriage
1,340 — Hospitalized
23,779 — Reports from Doctors of Vax Harm

Mandates vs. Freedom

Inslee issued mandates, yet the contrast to other governors who supported freedom could not have been more stark. Here is the view of Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida who upheld liberty (2 minute video):

Standing for Freedom

In Washington State, there were some heroic organizations who stood up for our basic freedoms, such as our right to assembly and worship. Our own FPIW Executive Director P. Brian Noble shared stories of rallies on the east side of Washington who stood up against mandates. These rallies included many thousands of people. On the west side, there were courageous organizations who also stood up, including:

Informed Choice
Washington Civil Rights Council
March for Freedom WA
The Pursuit NW

Informed Choice — The organization Informed Choice Washington has courageously stood against mandates for many years. They are an FPIW Strategic Partner and led by Bob Runnells and Lisa Templeton. In January 2022, they held a rally at the Capitol on Opening Day against mandates, and then another rally on Opening Day in January 2023. Several representatives from the Legislature came and spoke to the crowd (see video below). In 2019, they demonstrated their influence with a major rally at the Capitol in Olympia where Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appeared (see picture below).

Washington Civil Rights Council — Another heroic organization was the Washington Civil Rights Council, led by Larisa Goldin and Dan Webster. WCRC provided the legal acumen to people who were fired (or being threatened) for refusing to get injected. For instance, they were the key player to push back against Boeing’s attempt to mandate the vax. And they won. Boeing backed off. WCRC saved jobs, and they may have saved lives. To see one story of how WCRC helped people, click the image below – the story of Kathleen being fired from the Port of Seattle for refusing to take the vaccine.

Looking for help? Contact WCRC at [email protected] for anyone needing legal advice.

March for Freedom WA — Above all, the most active organization with “boots on the ground” and rallying for our liberties was March for Freedom WA. It was founded by Victoria Palmer, who led more than 200 events and whose signs were seen by more than 2 million people across Washington State. She inspired thousands of average citizens to stand up to mandates. She marched for freedom in the streets of Seattle; across our state in Bellevue, North Bend, Everett, Tacoma, Spokane; and especially at the Capitol in Olympia. She was a key voice on the frontlines for medical freedom.

The Pursuit NW — Not only were our basic liberties under threat by Inslee, such as our right to assemble, to our job, and to bodily autonomy, so was our religious liberty. Most churches capitulated to mandates and either closed or required draconian attendance arrangements — such as pre-registering and then signing up on a list before you entered and could park — e.g., Saint Teresa of Calcutta in Woodinville, Washington. In perhaps the greatest threat to religious liberty we have lived through in Washington State, in 2020-2021, the government declared to churches:

- Do not have more than 200 people enter or 25% of capacity, “whichever is fewer.”
- Do not sing collectively.
- Do not baptize.
- Do not allow the usual sacraments, such as Communion.
- Mandate spacing.
- Mandate masks.
- Mandate segregation for vaccinated vs. non-vaccinated in churches.

Yet an incredible stand for religious liberty took place at The Pursuit NW in Snohomish, Washington by Pastor Russell B. Johnson. Said one member: “It’s God’s humor to have the most courageous person against the biggest tyranny of our lives be a guy who weighs maybe 135 pounds soaking wet.” Johnson summarizes:

How did we go from “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” to “You must now ask our permission to gather on Sunday morning”? If 25 percent of the Church is allowed to gather, then the Church is not allowed to gather. If 50 percent of the Church is allowed to gather, then the Church is not allowed to gather. The same politicians who are telling us to trust the science will also tell us men can be women, women can be men, and babies can be terminated in the womb up until the ninth month. Let me be clear: I trust the science. What I don’t trust is the totalitarian political class and their unfettered lust for power, control, and authority. If there’s ever been a time for the Church to be open, friend, it’s now.

Johnson’s video “We Ain’t Cancelling Church” was viewed tens of thousands of times, and he stood up against the Health Department that reported him to the Attorney General for prosecution. Should a pastor be fined and even jailed merely for wanting to keep the doors open? Shouldn’t adults make their own health decisions?

Sacred Liberty

Our basic liberties as well as our religious liberty are sacred, and they must be defended. This essay aims to highlight the direct and unrelenting attack by Gov. Jay Inslee against our rights to assemble, to worship, and to medical freedom — no doubt all in the name of “emergency” or “protecting you” or “safety.” That is nearly always the tyrant’s plea. And if such tyranny returns, may good and noble men and women be on the frontlines to combat it and defend our liberty. In the same spirit as our Founding Fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence (1776): “With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”