by Robert M. Traxler
Will the COVID-19 pandemic change the way we do business? Will having to live with being locked up and with most things being locked down change American society?
Yes, Yes it will. If you are on house arrest with an ankle monitor, you may be allowed limited travel to shop for food and other needed items, you may be allowed to go out in your yard and to perform essential duties; sound familiar?
Quite frankly we must ask whether this would have been such an enormous crisis if it had occurred in a non-election year. Would things have been different if our governor had not been vying for the vice presidential nomination from the Democratic Party?
If our governor was a double minority and not merely a single minority (a woman), but not Hispanic, Native American, African American, openly gay, or other? If her worth to the Democrats checked a few more boxes, she may have been more reasonable in her reaction to the pandemic.
Grand Traverse County is open, Allegan County is not? Both are similar in population, especially if we look at population per square mile.
The loss to our economy has been severe and will have ripples that will do great harm for decades. The damage to people’s health is already apparent; some people are not getting cancer treatments, testing or screening. Preventive medicine was either not allowed, or the media coverage scared folks away from or shamed them into not seeking preventive care.
I wrote in this column wrote two months ago that crimes against persons and the tragedy of suicide will increase exponentially as time passes. Crimes such as assault and abuse of children and the elderly are increasing. The true numbers will never be known, as we are cautioned to not report crime to limit person-to-person contact. The monitoring of abused children and elderly is curtailed, again to limit person to person contact. Chicago set a record for murder last weekend, not surprising.
The lock up/down was sold to us as necessary to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed, I get it. It was necessary to bend the curve of cases downward, but as we increase testing, we increase the number of known cases, and the American left is using that to lock us up, lock us out and lock us in. The damage to the economy is severe, and that bodes well for the socialist party. As Bill Maher (HBO) said, we should hope the economy tanks and we go into a recession or depression to help defeat President Donald Trump; sure it will hurt some people, but it will be worth it. Easy for a multi-millionaire with a guaranteed contract to say.
Please mask up and open up. If we use masks, the governor could use it as an excuse to end our state-wide house arrest. Our governor could declare victory and open up the state, the entire state, with the exception of the five counties with the majority of the cases and deaths.
She could tell the committee choosing the vice presidential candidate for the Democrats that she defied the President and opened up her state on her terms, and thus she deserves to be the party’s choice for vice president. They are welcome to her.
Mr. Traxler,
Great article. How interesting science points to the fact that 480k citizens die every year in the USA due to smoking related issues. I am confident this will rise due to the our state blessing marijuana. Yet our Governor/Governments do not abolish tobacco farms, distribution, nor sale of tobacco products. Perhaps there is just not a enough of a political gain.
Chan,
Thank you for the comment.
Interesting that if you boil Tobacco it makes a good insecticide. We have not seen Marijuana and it’s health effects fully as yet and will not for years.
Thanks again.