Unfortunately, Governor Whitmer decided she liked China’s heavy-handed approach to epidemic control. And she decided on this approach in deference to the fact that Sweden, a country of similar size and geographic make-up to the state of Michigan, has half as many cases and fewer deaths, yet Sweden is taking a much more voluntary approach to mitigation.
The results of that command & control decision is not setting well with most Michiganders. We can meander through a store to buy merchandise, but not just any merchandise. Evidently, some merchandise is safer than others. Or maybe buying only certain approved products cuts down on risk of over-whelming our healthcare system; sure, that’s it.
In Michigan, we can only purchase merchandise deemed “essential” by our overseers. Evidently Marijuana shops are on this list, but forget about seeing your dentist if you need a root canal. Stoves and refrigerators are “essential”, but flooring and paint to repair that water damage or renovate that addition you added for your aging parent…not so much.
If that seems arbitrary and capricious, it’s because it is. Who has the data and the insight to predetermine the specific needs and uses for this unlimited myriad of products that people may elect to purchase? Yet this is exactly what our duly elected, if not deluded & power-mongering, Governor of Michigan has tried to do. If this doesn’t show the futility and arrogance of central planning, I don’t know what would.
Unfortunately, many vendors and businesses are complying with these draconian, and possibly unconstitutional, measures. Businesses are capable of putting some common-sense protocols in place related to distancing or masks or how many people are permitted in the store at once. These decisions, and the decision to shop or go out at all, should be done voluntarily with informed consent of the parties involved. Maybe this is one of those times when citizens need to give their collective heads a shake and hunker down for some peaceful civil disobedience.
Forum for Healthcare Freedom 