By Randy Rossi -
I just saw a Rasmussen Reports poll which indicated that only 36% of Americans want to immediately go back to work now and stop the COVID 19 shutdown versus the 49% that disagreed and want to continue the shutdown and the 15% that can’t make up their minds on the topic. At first I was very disappointed but then I remembered what our Founding Fathers went through when they were debating if they should risk their lives by declaring independence from Britain because Britain took away their rights and independence. At that time roughly 33% of Americans were willing to risk their lives and declare independence, roughly 33% disagreed, and 33% were neutral. In the end, the 33% who were willing to die for freedom won the argument and despite the incredible odds against them, they won their freedom. That is how America became “The land of the free and the home of the brave”.
Think about the huge risks our Founding Fathers took versus the tiny risks that those of us that want to go back to work are willing to take. Britain was the most powerful nation in the world with the most powerful army and navy and we were 13 tiny colonies with virtually no army and no navy. My guess is the odds of our Founding Fathers winning that war were less than 5%, while the odds of losing everything including their lives were 95% . Now think about the odds against us if we decide to go back to work and stop the national COVID 19 shutdown. According to new federal estimates, only 60,000 Americans will die from the COVID 19, about the same number that die every year from the annual flu. In a nation of 330 million people, that means the odds of dying by going back to work are 0.02%. The odds of winning by going back to work and controlling our own destinies are 99.98%. If our Founding Fathers were in this debate and knew these statistics, how do you think they would vote?
There is no doubt in my mind that our Founding Fathers would say that those people that want to stay home to protect themselves from COVID 19 absolutely have the right to do so. But I also have no doubt that they would also say that those Americans that want to take that 0.02% risk to have the freedom to go back to work and take back control of their lives absolutely have the right to do so as well. In fact I think that they would be incredibly embarrassed to know that 49% of Americans today are unwilling to take a 0.02% chance to control their own lives and instead would follow the government’s orders to stay home and hide in their basements which has already destroyed the jobs of 22 million Americans and taken trillions of dollars out of our economy. Remember our Founding Fathers were the guys that had a “Tea Party” to protest unfair taxation by the “state”!
But quite frankly, the case is even stronger for ending the shutdown now and giving Americans the freedom to choose to go back to work. A new Stanford University study in California shows that anywhere between 50 to 85 times more Americans have caught the COVID 19 than reported. We didn’t know that because so many of those people that tested positive either had no symptoms or the symptoms they had were so mild they didn’t even go to the doctor. That is great news because it means that the fatality rate of COVID 19 is dramatically lower than estimated. Based on math, that means that the odds of dying from COVID 19 are almost exactly the same as dying from the annual flu if you catch it which is 0.1%. Based on that math, there is simply no logical case to shut down our entire economy and inflict so much pain on all Americans.
Our Founding Fathers must be incredibly embarrassed to see the great nation they left us hide in their basements because of a 0.2% or less chance of dying from COVID 19 if one was unlucky enough to catch it. Benjamin Franklin said it well when he said “The man who trades freedom for security neither deserves nor will ever receive either”. Again, Benjamin Franklin and our Founding Fathers took a 95% chance of losing their lives and property by declaring independence from a tyrannical government. They put freedom ahead of everything. My ancestor Robert Morris who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and was known as the “Financier of the Revolution” by using his own money to pay for the US Navy and Army said it even better than Ben Franklin. He and George Washington were good friends and after they left public life George Washington asked him if he thought it was worth risking their lives for freedom. Robert Morris responded “I would rather die like a lion than live like a lamb”. That perfectly describes my opinion. I would much rather take a 0.02% chance of dying from COVID 19 so I can live my life to the fullest than hide in my basement to avoid that 0.02% risk. I suspect everyone of our Founding Fathers would agree. After all, as a hunter, scuba diver, and sailor for 50 years I took bigger risks than that to just have fun. Taking that tiny 0.2% risk to be free and take control of my life is nothing. I am incredibly disappointed that a majority of Americans today are willing to give up their freedom for the 0.02% or less chance that they could die from COVID 19. Sadly, I am quite sure that our Founding Fathers would agree with me.
