Running to the front of the parade.

Harsh lessons politicians have learned from COVID and protests

When the George Floyd protests began last week, I thought Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made an interesting point.

“Civil society is not maintained just by laws and the threat of punishment,” he said. “It’s maintained by the sense of a social compact that we share the same values.”

And what’s followed has been a harsh and eye-opening experience. As these two crises — COVID and the protests to the murder of Floyd — unfolded, we watched politicians enact policy, demand changes and mandate behavior.

Only to find that they were ignored.

It is an old truism that the electorate moves quicker than the politicians, and these make the point. We saw it first in the COVID-19 reaction. It was even more pronounced when the Floyd protests turned violent.

At some point, People defied their lawmakers. Sometimes they were subtle and mildly subversive — having a picnic in the park and not maintaining social distance. And sometimes they did it with authentic anger and action — marching in the streets and looting and burning shops and stores.

We need to restore that collective social consciousness. So that the majority of us feel we are doing the right thing, moving in the right direction to mend this country.

It won’t be easy. When it became clear Coronavirus was a real threat, Gov. Gavin Newsom made a gutty call, announcing way back on March 17 that California schools would close for the rest of the year.

And in general, Californians seemed OK with that, although it was clearly drastic and threw family plans into an uproar. Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed were hailed for showing the way to sensible pandemic safety.

But weeks of quarantine turned to months, and the cruel economics of shutting down every business and shop began to hurt. Complaints grew, particularly in areas of the state where there were very few COVID cases.

It wasn’t just unhappy residents. Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick announced last week that his deputies would no longer be enforcing the existing shelter-in-place order. (He’s gone back and forth on this. Stay turned. But still indicative that he publicly took on the Gov.)

Newsom, nobody’s fool, heard the chorus. He eased up on brakes a little, and gave the counties a wink if they wanted to make their own schedule for re-opening.

“Localism is determinative,” he said, in the most Newsom-ish possible way. “We put out the how. Counties decide the when.”

And by last week it was amusing to see he was defending himself against accusations that he was letting the state re-open too quickly.

Which shows that leaders can make the tough calls when they have support. But when you are in opposition to overwhelming public opinion, you need to make the adjustment.

All of which is just preamble to the flames, anger and violence of the George Floyd marches. If ever there is a case of a break in the social compact, this is it.

Mayors announced curfews. They were ignored. Police tried to stop protesters from blocking the freeway. They couldn’t do it. And there were marches everywhere, including the mean streets of Santa Barbara.

By now we can all recite the mantra of every TV politician: I support and agree with the protest, but I cannot condone violence.

Yeah. Fine. But this is more complicated than that.

Whatever you think of the radical fringe — I’d say they are assholes — when they break windows, tag walls and set fires, it isn’t four guys from Oakland. There’s some of them in every city, in every protest.

It isn’t that they don’t realize they are ruining the lives of small business owners, often people of color. They’ve been told that over and over. They don’t care. They are far beyond any concern about social order.

That’s dramatic. And it should give every politician pause.

And then consider the large majority of the marchers, who don’t want to burn down the city but want their voices heard. How has their perception of government changed?

How about those peaceful demonstrators at the White House who were tear-gassed to clear them out for a photo op for President Trump? Do you think they will ever forget that?

Those are the people you need to reach out to. Opinionated, well-read, passionate people like that built this country. And we’re losing them. They may never end up spray-painting graffiti, but if they give up on the social compact it is going to be hard to get them back.

The moment that got me was the looting in Walnut Creek. There wasn’t a demonstration there. It was just seems like the thinking was: the world is in a chaos, there’s some nice stores in the suburbs and nobody’s going to stop us.

Those stores have probably had glass doors for a decade. Nobody had the idea to crash through them and take whatever was available until last week. They saw people doing it on TV, so why not hit WC? Is that really where this is headed, to steel doors on stores?

Honestly, if one more person says we need a “dialogue” on the issues I’ll spit. What we need to do is listen. There’s a lot of legitimate discontent and anger. Thousands of marchers came out in dozens and dozens of cities. You can discount the crazies — lost cause.

But those others have something to say. We should listen to it. All those ‘Bernie Bros’ that were passionately backing Bernie Sanders? That wasn’t a whim. They are committed. We need to hear them.

Right now, I don’t see that happening. Politicians continue to make sweeping declarations and rulings. But at this point, are we sure the public will obey?

I always think of Glendower in Henry IV, part one, when he says, “I can call spirits from the vasty deep.”

To which Henry replies, “Why so can I. So can any man. But will they come when you call for them?”

All right, I’m willing to admit that this week’s newsletter is a bit preachy. I’m working on it. But others are sunny, funny and light. But how will you know that if you don’t subscribe? And for free. Just click this button:

The A’s John Fisher is bit of mystery. But we do know he’s a lousy owner

I wrote an open letter to Oakland A’s owner John Fisher last Sunday in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. It was in response to Fisher sending a letter to the team’s staff and fans.

Which was weird, because it was the first public statement by Fisher since he bought the team in 2005. Cat got your tongue John?

In it, Fisher explains that the team is cutting virtually everyone’s salary, they are going to furlough a “significant” number of employees and they aren’t going to pay their minor league players. Also, Fisher says at the end, he loves baseball.

Really John? Because it seems like you are doing all you can to make baseball a terrible experience for your players and your fans.

You know all the reasons. The Coliseum is a sad, dreary joke. To save money, players have been shipped out just as they are about to become stars. And the proposed new ballpark has proved to be more of an annoyance than a reality.

The capper has to be not paying the minor leaguers. Seriously? Press reports says they were making $400 a week. This from a man whose net worth is just under $2 billion according to Forbes Magazine.

I have had more than a few A’s fans say they were sharing this with their fellow fans after reading this “Dear John” letter. And you can do it too. Just hit the button:

We have to discuss Colin Kaepernick. Again.

I am now writing the 49ers’ blog at the Press Democrat. There is, of course, no way I will be as knowledgeable about the team as Grant Cohn and Phil Barber who did it before me, but we can all aspire.

This week I wrote about Colin Kaepernick and whether he should be signed to play in the NFL.

You can see why his name has come up again. There is such an obvious connection to the George Floyd murder, . Kaepernick, famously, was vilified for putting down his knee during the national anthem. That Minneapolis cop put his knee on Floyd’s neck, eventually killing him.

So, in a time of crisis we look for ways to make things right. To set things straight as a way of acknowledging the tragedy of Floyd’s death and make us feel a little better.

Putting Kaepernick on an NFL team is an obvious example. Former White House press secretary and NFL executive Joe Lockhart wrote that in a CNN story headlined, “Now is the moment to sign Colin Kaepernick.

My take is a little nuanced. If you’re signing Kaep to make political amends, I say go right ahead. But if it is a football decision, I’m not so supportive. There’s more, but you have to read it.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Suggestions and compliments cheerfully accepted. Complaints, not so much. Twitter: @cwnevius