Democrat Representative Michelle McGaw (House district 71) expressed a telling thought in response to her Republican colleague, Brian Newberry, when he noted that 400 people had signed up to testify on  “the proposed extension of the Governor’s emergency powers”:

Have you determined how many of those have credentials in public health, infectious disease or epidemiology?

I’ve been around long enough to be highly cynical about the use of public testimony to the General Assembly.  The whole system is designed to make you feel like you’ve got an opportunity to be heard while having nearly zero influence on the laws that actually govern you.  McGaw is essentially saying the quiet part out loud.

You may have voted in the election that put her in office, but she doesn’t actually care what you think.  Whatever perspective you bring to the table, you’re just a child to be managed by people she credits as experts.