President Harry S. Truman was getting opposition from Congress when he wanted the Marshall Plan after World War II. “You have to scare the hell out of the people to get this done,” his advisors said.
When it comes to COVID-19, Congress and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have sure succeeded at that. It’s the “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” come to life. You meet someone you’ve known and, glassy-eyed, they’re spouting the last frightening thing they’ve heard about bodies piling up in morgues or how you can catch the virus from your neighbor. This for a virus that is less contagious than the measles. The media play up the worst case. And members of Congress, their incomes comfortably wired to them, happily print money to keep the people quiet.
About 120 people die every day in Minnesota. (Or more. That’s a 2018 figure.) Somewhere around 80% of the shutdown-period COVID-19 deaths have been in long-term nursing homes. The other 20% amount to about three per day. That means the governor shut down the state for two months for about .023% of the daily average Minnesota death total.
Open up now. Every life is important, and no one wants to get COVID-19, particularly not me. But the looming disaster inflicted on the American public because the government can’t come up with a common-sense opening strategy is criminal.
Mike Felix
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Grand Rapids
