“You have to disobey,” Wayne Hoffman, the president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates smaller government, said after that state’s governor announced he would extend a stay-at-home
order until the end of April. Idaho has recently seen growing discord over government mandates.
“You have to do what’s best for your business,” added Mr. Hoffman, who said a rally would take place at the State Capitol on Friday. “You have to do what’s best for your employees and your customers. You have to do what’s best for your livelihood, for your families.”
And in Austin, Texas, a host of Infowars, a website that frequently shares conspiracy theories, announced a rally on Saturday at the State Capitol that he has called the “You Can’t Close America Rally.”
Tyler Miller, 39, an engineering technician in Bremerton, Wash., has organized a rally at the State Capitol in Olympia this weekend after growing frustrated with limitations on gatherings and travel. Mr. Miller said in an interview that he believed that Americans should take the virus seriously, noting that even as he wrote to Gov. Jay Inslee to complain about the restrictions, he had self-quarantined at home after experiencing coronavirus-like symptoms.
“I want the governor to say that these are strongly encouraged practices, but that people have the right to gather,” Mr. Miller said. If the state-mandated rules were to be revised, he said, he would call off the rally. “I want people to be as safe as possible, but I also want their liberties to be respected in the process.”