The surest sign that an elected official is more motivated by power than principle is when they blatantly flout the very rules they impose on others. It’s the classic authoritarian attitude of “rules for thee but not for me.” And Democrat officials across the country have been demonstrating this hypocritical authoritarian attitude in spades ever since the coronavirus pandemic hit.

California Governor Gavin Newsom just issued a new stay-at-home order (that the LA County sheriff, among others, will not enforce). We’ll see how well Newsom does in following his own rules this time. Remember, just before Thanksgiving, Newsom was observed dining mask-less at the ritzy Napa Valley establishment The French Laundry, celebrating a birthday party just hours after he had released more COVID guidelines on mask-wearing and restricting social gatherings to three households or fewer. At least Newsom offered an apology after being caught, which is more than can be said of most other Dem officials busted breaking their own rules. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blamed the salon owner after she was caught violating local shutdown rules.

Back to The French Laundry. On the very next night after Newsom was caught, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who has cultivated a public reputation as a stickler for COVID rules, was seen dining at the establishment sans mask and not social distancing. Her spokesman defended her actions by saying that she had not technically broken state rules. However, she certainly broke the rules she’s imposed on San Francisco, banning any dining at such establishments.

Moving down the California coast to Los Angeles, we find that County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, a Democrat, provides yet another blatant flouting of rules after she was caught dining at an outdoor restaurant immediately after issuing a directive banning outdoor dining. Her excuse? Well, she had to get in one last meal at her favorite dining establishment prior to her edict going into effect. But isn’t it serious? Why, yes. She insisted when announcing the new rule, “This is a serious health emergency and we must take it seriously. The servers are not protected from us, and they’re not protected from their other tables that they’re serving at that particular time, plus all the hours in which they’re working.” Evidently, Kuehl believed the virus would be transmissible only after her edict went into effect.

Before leaving the Golden State, let’s not ignore Senator Dianne Feinstein’s failure to practice what she preaches, as she has regularly been spotted speaking to colleagues on Capitol Hill without her mask, even as she decrees, “Wearing masks in public should be mandatory. Period.”

Then there’s the case of Denver Democrat Mayor Michael Hancock, who hopped on a private jet to fly down to Mississippi to spend Thanksgiving with his daughter. No big deal — it was a private flight — right? Just pay no attention to the fact that, just 30 minutes prior to his flight, he sent out the following message: “With the continued rise in cases, I’m urging you to refrain from travel this Thanksgiving holiday. For my family that means cancelling our traditional gathering of our extended family.”

But even in deep-red states, Democrat elected officials’ hypocrisy abounds. In Texas, Austin Mayor Steve Adler in November admonished city residents via a video message in which he lectured, “Stay home if you can. This is not the time to relax. We are going to be looking really closely. … We may have to close things down if we are not careful.” Except Adler wasn’t in Austin when he delivered that appeal. He wasn’t even in the Lone Star State. Nor was he in the U.S. Adler was, in fact, down in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where he had gone to vacation with his family after having just attended his daughter’s wedding in Austin.

Moving east to the Bayou State, Democrat Governor John Bel Edwards wrote just before Thanksgiving, “Always wear your mask if you are around people not part of your immediate household.” Except for him. He was photographed at a Baton Rouge Country Club mingling with other diners — without a mask.

On the East Coast, in the City of Brotherly Love, restauranteurs aren’t getting much love from Mayor Jim Kenny, whose policies have shut down restaurants in Philadelphia. But Kenny, whose appetite for fine cuisine must be satiated, saw no problem in traveling over the border into Maryland to dine at an establishment on the Chesapeake Bay. His jaunt provoked the ire of Philadelphia chef Marc Vetri, who wrote on social media, “Glad you’re enjoying indoor dining with no social distancing or mask wearing in Maryland tonight while restaurants here in Philly close, suffer and fight for every nickel just to survive. I guess all your press briefings and your narrative of unsafe indoor dining don’t apply to you. Thank you for clearing it all up for us tonight.”

Either these hypocrites don’t believe the virus is dangerous, or they don’t give a rip about potentially spreading COVID to their constituents. And the result of this hypocrisy will be more people ignoring their warnings. As National Review’s Jim Geraghty observes, “If another bunch of fat-cat politicians try to decree that no one should get together for Christmas, and that everyone should stay out of restaurants and church and so on, the reaction from much of the public will be a metaphorical middle finger, and that reaction will be entirely deserved. Elected officials didn’t start this pandemic with a ton of trust and respect for their authority, and the worst among them have destroyed what was left in the past few weeks.”

Ever wonder why conservatives have never been big on Big Government?