A new report by the Tax Foundation highlights just how crippling the nation’s mandatory business closures and shelter in place policies have been. Nationwide the Unemployment Claims as a % of the Civilian Workforce has spiked to 12.5%, but in some states the percentage is above 20%. The states with the highest percentages of unemployment are Michigan (21.8%), Connecticut (21.5%) and Vermont (20.9%), all states led by Democratic Governors who have closed all “non-essential” businesses and enforced strict work from home policies. Other states with high levels of unemployment include Pennsylvania (19.6%) and West Virginia (18.7%). New York, the epicenter of the pandemic, has a rate of 16.4%.
We don’t think these levels of unemployment are sustainable for America. At the beginning of the pandemic, politicians and health professionals were working without much knowledge about COVID-19 virus, how infectious it was and the risk of death posed to the population. Originally, American health professionals downplayed the risks posed by the virus, in large part due to the misinformation coming from China and the World Health Organization. Then, as the pandemic hit Italy and spread in New York City, our government reversed course and imposed a draconian lockdown. As we now enter our sixth week of lockdown, Americans are starting to ask if it is really necessary.
The great advantage of America is that we have the freedom to challenge official recommendations. We now have many ER doctors going on YouTube to question whether the social distancing being imposed on America is really helping or whether it is actually hurting. Dr. Daniel Erickson (an emergency doctor in California) has become an overnight viral sensation after giving an hour long interview that in just two days has been watched by over 5 million people. In the interview, Dr. Erickson states that the mass social distancing and sheltering in place is actually harmful for our health and immune systems. Instead, he argues that we should adopt a more targeted approach, protecting the elderly and higher risk populations, while allowing younger Americans to gain herd immunity. We are not here to say who is correct, but the longer this forced shutdown goes on and unemployment spikes above 20%, the more this message of freedom will resonate with Americans.
America is a nation of workers. A nation that is built upon hard working individuals, personal freedoms, and small business owners. Americans don’t react well to drones flying overhead and monitoring their temperature or who they are talking with. They don’t like being told that they cannot worship at their church or peacefully assemble. It’s time to re-open America. Whichever political party understands this and embraces a more common sense approach to battling the coronavirus will benefit in November.
NewEnglandPolitics.com 