Opinion: NJ Nervous Again About What Murphy Will Do Next

Over the weekend, people in the restaurant industry and other businesses fretted over what Gov. Phil Murphy will do next that will keep them from making a living.

Just last week he instituted a 10 p.m. curfew on restaurants and eliminated bar seating along with other measures that impacted indoor travel sports.

I learned talking to a few people in the industry this past weekend they seem very nervous about what this week's edicts from Murphy will bring.

Some speculated that they'll be shut down for indoor dining again and some speculated that places like gyms and bowling alleys will be in his sights this week. It looks like he's following the lead of his neighbor New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's and will limit indoor gatherings in private homes to just 10 people.

Full details will be released later today after Murphy's mid-day press briefing. Next week is Thanksgiving and one can imagine that might not go over well. However, with New Jersey's seemingly compliant attitude when it comes to what King Phillip the First has done already, who knows?

Whatever this week's COVID-19 briefings bring, they'll be complete with admonishment of people just trying to live their lives and exploitation of people who have passed away either from or with the novel coronavirus. It's disgustingly transparent and shameful, but the panicked public seems to buy Murphy's calm "good guy" act every week and continue to approve of his government overreach tactics.

Some in the New Jersey Legislature would like to see any more government overreach be done county-by-county to spare some parts of the state that are not experiencing as many cases. That would cede some of the power back to the representatives of our state and that's not what kings do, so don't count on that getting any traction. Brace yourself once again, not just for the virus, but for the more insidious danger of tyrannical governance by one man. One very over-his-head and out of touch man.