So I hear that my Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, should “make a deal” with the armed protestors/terrorists who invaded the Michigan State Capitol for a second time. (This after the latest update to the Executive Order already acceded to several of their demands, lifting restrictions on businesses offering gardening and landscaping services and such vital parts of the economy as golf courses.) For the rest of us, who are respecting the lives of our healthcare workers and of our fellow citizens in general by staying home, often at significant sacrifice of income, what does this say?
It strongly suggests that perhaps the way to have our voices heard is to show up with weapons and scream. Some of us have been involved for years in the struggle to have the needs of ordinary people recognized in the halls of power, both in Lansing and in DC. We share with these protestors the need for safe, clean water and air, and for an environment in the larger sense, where a person can safely either work for a company, develop and run an enterprise, or have a job caring for the needs of others, in conditions respectful of human dignity. The progress made over the years has lately been spiraling back, to the dog-eat-dog conditions our grandparents knew. Perhaps that means we’ve been using the wrong approach!
However, I do have a deal to propose. There is a real split between the way these people see the world– and their rights and obligations in society– and the way over 60 percent of Michiganders see it. As they are a strong and vocal minority who want to be free to take their chances with an epidemic, in order to resume their lives as usual, perhaps we could create a special zone for them. They could take, say, Montmorency County– with a population of some 10,000, it would be relatively simple to arrange for property swaps with the current inhabitants– and live free or die there.
At the very least, if we offer them a deal where they are allowed to resume their businesses without restrictions, we can require them to sign releases saying that they will not ask for any care from our healthcare system, as they are increasing their chances of carrying the virus. Next, they must also put a large and visible sign on their businesses so customers know that no precautions are being taken. Thirdly, they must sign an agreement exempting them and their employees from unemployment payments, and an acknowledgement that by assuming this risk they are renouncing any governmental responsibility for the possible consequences. They’re on their own.
Yesterday, the hard-right Republican majority in Lansing voted to spend a good chunk of our collective budget to sue the Governor for her temerity in taking the measures that have been shown all over the world to be the most effective to minimize the damage of this epidemic. As our State Senator, Jeff Irwin, pointed out, the cost of dealing with this emergency has already blown huge holes in every part of public finances, and the legislature has the job of figuring out how to handle this problem. How will we continue to pay for the already greatly reduced public services the state and our municipalities are expected to provide? Will we find ways to keep our schools, our elections, our health systems, our firefighters and police forces, even our garbage collection, on the rails– or will we throw it all under the bus, add all the work force to the unemployment rolls– and where will the unemployment money come from?
Maybe it’s time for the rest of us to come out, staying as safe as possible, with masks and a good 10-foot distance for good measure, and let our Governor know that we support her, and that we require our legislature to begin to work for the people– and to drop their ideology for once, to look at reality. The old “every man for himself” approach is clearly not enough to confront a crisis that will affect us all for years to come.