Make no mistake about it: Our country is at a crossroads. It is hard to find one area of life that the COVID pandemic has not reached. I cannot speak for the whole country, but here in Michigan it has been an ever present risk/reward debate since the middle of March. We saw what we thought was the worst of the pandemic in April as deaths and cases climbed in the state and we were one of the leading states in both categories. We hunkered down, sacrificed, and we “flattened the curve” then becoming a role model to other states as by Memorial Day and into early June case counts and deaths were way down. We saw a summer where with precautions, life was relatively normal. Then, we started to shift towards fall and we all watched with angst as the case counts crept up each and every day. Now, we are sitting here in November until a temporary 3 week pause in the state of Michigan closing certain establishments and activities to help curb the spread of the virus.
Sifting through social media comments, news stories, or other sources demonstrate immediately what a fractured moment in history we are experiencing right now. Many Michiganders welcomed the news of tighter restrictions in order to do our part to help not overwhelm the healthcare system and slow the spread. Others immediately cried “government overreach” and “tyranny” and within a day, actual elected officials in Michigan called for Governor Whitmer’s impeachment because of tightened restrictions for public health. In the polarized world of 2020 this seemed par the course for what we’ve been experiencing. Online, there is a failed US House candidate openly telling businesses to not follow the new restrictions. Telling businesses that if they are hit with a fine to not pay it. To not enforce the mask mandate. There’s a lot of talk of freedom and Liberty and infringement. There’s a lot of talk in general. Everyone thinks they're an expert. Everyone thinks they know what freedom means. One commenter to the Detroit Free Press even told people to go read The Federalist Papers, which is funny because I don't remember Madison or Hamilton arguing about a pandemic.
All of that whirlwind and information and misinformation has placed us at a crossroads as a country. What we do next matters greatly. How we approach the next few weeks matters. It’s not an issue of Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal. It’s a matter of what it means to be American and to live in a country that is in and of itself an experiment in freedom, liberty, and democratic government. We have twisted the notion of freedom and liberty so much that we've lost the sense of collective belonging and attachment to our fellow Americans.
Governor Whitmer asked us in Michigan to take 3 weeks to make a difference and battle back against this virus. Other states are taking similar measures. Now, I know we have been going at this since March. We were under stay at home orders for April and much of May. I understand that. I understand we’re tired, annoyed, we want to get on with our normal lives. But this isn’t about us anymore. When thousands of people are dying each day across this country, we can’t complain about a disruption to our lives like not being able to eat in a restaurant. Believe me, I know the sacrifice and fatigue. We unexpectedly lost my dad to a heart attack in February. This will be the first Thanksgiving and Christmas without him. Trust me, I want to be with my family. I want to hold my mom and tell her it’ll all be ok. But that would be reckless of me. She’s in her late 60s, I can’t risk losing another parent. You want sacrifice? Try having that conversation with your grieving mother that she can’t see you or her grandkids for the first big holiday since dad's passing.
My personal needs aside, people are questioning why we can’t get this right. Why as a country can we not move on past COVID? After all,. aren’t we the smartest, wealthiest, most educated country in the world? Aren’t all the worlds greatest minds here? For those of us that have studied American history could have predicted this response as a country. We don’t like to be told what to do as Americans. It runs counter to who we are and what we’ve been told. Think back to your elementary school history class and the lessons from the Revolution. We needed to be our own free and independent country because Britain and the King wanted to control us, right?!
After the Revolution, we created our first form of government intentionally weak and powerless because we were afraid it might become too tyrannical. We replaced that with a Constitution, you know the one that everyone is using to claim masks violate their rights but they’ve never actually read any of it?, yeah that one. In that document, we inherently have the concept of federalism and shared power by the local states and the federal government—again so a powerful national government couldn’t tell us what to do. That idea morphed into States Rights which was used to defend the institution of slavery for generations, because again, why should anyone be able to tell us we can’t own people? We fought a Civil War over that which cost the lives of nearly 700,000 Americans, all because one side wanted to keep another bondage and didn’t want to be told they couldn’t—it’s as simple as that.
It’s not just in national events, the sense of individualism in American history and character. We are a nation of risk takers. A nation where people sailed across the ocean to begin new lives in a new world. Whether we are descendants of the original colonists, or recent immigrants, we came here because our chances were better. Whether it was moving West and establishing a homestead on the frontier, or the idea of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and the rags to riches story, those ideas are central to what American identity is, or at least what we’ve been taught. We’re the nation of Cowboys and Pioneers, Roughnecks, and so forth. It’s about me, how can I succeed and make myself better? How can I improve my life and that of my family? It’s the American dream to achieve—as we’ve been told all of our lives. Oh, you’re not successful? Then maybe you didn’t work hard enough, or you’re just not smart enough. We’ve all heard that before.
Individualism runs deep in America. We love our personal freedoms and the idea of limited government. We love the ability to do as we please and have the freedom to make choices that we think are best for us and for our families. We love the inherent rebel spirit of America where we have freedom and the rest of the world has less of it than us, right? That is all well and good and no one is arguing to take rights away or limiting your freedom to be the leader of your own life. But, what this pandemic is showing us is that Americans are taking the idea of individual freedom and manipulating to fit their needs all while undermining the greater public health crisis.
This sense of individualism has also lead to an inflated sense of what freedom and liberty means. Many think freedom is the ability to do whatever you want with out government interference. True. But, what happens when that freedom negatively impacts others? What happens when your pursuit of freedom inhibits my ability to do so? Sure, you can decide whether wearing a mask is effective or not and if you're going to follow the rules, but what happens when you start a chain of virus spread that impacts me, or my family, or someone else that you may not even know? What if they get infected because you were expressing your rights? Why does their freedom and their rights mean less than yours? That’s the crux of the argument we are now at in this pandemic. Many people are screaming for freedom from government overreach because they want to go eat, shop, see a movie, etc all without a mask on. It’s a conspiracy, it’s a hoax, it causes breathing problems, it’s my right not to. Freedom! See this is what makes COVID a much bigger problem in America. We don’t have a sense of community and what it really means to work as a community to defeat something. Think about it, look at your subdivision, how hard do you work to either have a lot with neighbors far away? A big privacy fence? Do you even know your neighbors? Extrapolate that out to your city, town, township. Do you know more than a handful of people? See, it’s hard to sacrifice for people you don’t know when you’re focused on you. In that moment we fall back on what we know, freedom. We focus on ourselves and our own rights and many make the decision that wearing a mask just isn't worth it and it's easy to discard the impact when you don't see it. That’s the essential reason we as a country are struggling so hard to put COVID behind us: we aren’t willing to strike a balance between personal freedom and community. Many think that personal responsibility (masking up, social distancing, etc) are an attack on personal freedoms rather than an aid to help their community. That’s the problem. That’s the battle we are fighting.
This isn't about government overreach, no matter what anyone tells you. Being asked to follow public health recommendations is not about taking away your freedoms, let's be honest. The same people who won't wear a mask will gladly follow other government actions to help public health, such as getting vaccinated as children, vaccinating their own children and so on. They don't cry foul when the government collects their taxes every year, or a sales tax on the purchase they just made at the store. They don't cry government overreach when they have to pay for registration and license plate tabs for their vehicles, or pass a milage for their local school district, police department, or fire department. What we are really experiencing here is a twisting of the notion of individualism and freedom to fit their argument. According to the Brookings Institution, 40% of Americans won't wear a mask because they believe it is their right not to. I have yet to be shown where in our rights and freedoms it says that, but I digress...
Generations before us have had their defining moment to step up and sacrifice for the greater good. Countless times Americans have answered the call before. Millions of men signed up to fight on distant fields in World War I. When that wasn’t enough millions more went to fight evil in Europe in World War II, never asking what would happen to their freedoms while they went. Suffragists, civil rights activists, all risked their lives and well being for actual freedom and a greater cause. All we are talking about Is wearing a mask. A piece of cloth that covers your nose and mouth. That’s it. Nothing more. And to stay away from people outside of your household. That’s all. So with all due respect, put the talk of freedom aside and step up for your community. Sure, I may never get COVID, but I am more than willing to help stop the spread for my fellow Americans who don’t have the choice I do it for all those that don’t have the privilege to stay home. Who have to work because if they don’t they can’t make rent, or pay the bills. Or those that can’t afford to get sick because of underlying conditions—like my own wife. I do it for all those kids that I teach, to show them that sometimes contributing to the greater good is more important than yourself. I do it to show people that their freedom matters to me just as much as my own. Any freedom loving American would feel the same way, right? If you really love that freedom you talk about, you'd want everyone to have it, not just you.
This is a defining moment for our country. Will we put aside the rugged sense of individualism and embrace the greater good of the community? Will we stop all the talk of freedom and tyranny and wear a mask so we can put this thing behind us? And for all those who post quotes of the Founders talking about giving up freedom, just stop. Health experts are asking you to wear a mask. And, if we do that, in a few months you can take that mask off and bask in all that star-spangled freedom again!
It’s time that we as a nation do what we have collectively shunned for so long—embrace your neighbor and step up. Put aside the individualism and embrace the greater good. Sacrifice for a short time so that more of us Americans can be around to enjoy the freedoms we have sacrificed for, for many years to come.
