> I seriously urge you to check your cognitive dissonance to the situation as a whole. This is literally the definition of political theater You have Republica

> I seriously urge you to check your cognitive dissonance to the situation as a whole. This is literally the definition of political theater You have Republicans who chose to impose lockdowns and mask mandates. You have Democrats who chose to impose lockdowns and mask mandates. You have communist run countries who chose to impose lockdowns and mask mandates. You have democractic run countries who chose to impose lockdowns and mask mandates. You have many other countries of various political entities that all chose to impose lockdowns and mask mandates. To me it seems like a cross-cutting concern that affects everyone no matter their political leanings. Now the decision to have lockdowns and mask mandates where you reside is obviously political, that's the point of politics, to dictate the laws and regulations for residents in a particular place, but I don't see a political motive behind it. The motives seem very much about controlling the spread of Covid within an area and balancing that with the economic impact. Politicians will make their own assessment for this and determine the public policy they think best manages the spread and maximizes the economy. I would say there is some appearance of political motives from politician who seem to play the "conspiracy" card. Those seem to have self-driven motivation. But I really doubt any politician putting lockdowns and mask mandates in place is having a good time, being the one to do this is possibly a career ending move, it's a big deal, and I can't imagine what political driver you'd have for it, beyond wanting to not cause a mass spread of Covid in your population and look like a failure at preventing it.