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When the pandemic began, governors had to quickly pronounce emergency powers. It was needed to mobilize quickly. It is past time for governors to relinquish those powers to elected legislators and local officials. We’ve had time to gather information, hear the will of the people, ramp up PPE and ventilator production, prepare hospitals to the point of being almost empty, get testing procedures and give the at-risk time to prepare.

Conservatives see the world through the lens of being self-reliant and vigilant about individual rights versus the common good. History teaches the longer and easier we give up rights, the harder they are to take back. We hear about the “new normal” — a euphemism for “you gave up some rights, get used to not having them.” Rights that five generations of my family wore a uniform to defend. The right to assemble, bear arms, speak, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Decisions need to be made at local levels where it’s “rocks and cows.” We have different conditions and needs than the metro area. Metro areas elected our governor. He is over-representing them. Our risk is lower. Decisions made from on high easily kept the big-box stores open with lines out the door, while small stores close. Online and big-box stores will not give up that competitive advantage anytime soon.

We’re on the cusp of a depression. This is not about pandering to big businesses and protecting the rich. Ninety nine percent of American businesses have fewer than 500 employees and employ roughly 50% of our workforce. Our small businesses are being ravaged and seldom have cash reserves or access to credit to get through disasters. Many of the disaster assistance programs are loans on a non-productive business period that must be paid back, that owners personally guaranteed. Small business owners cannot go without income. We are seeing farmers dumping milk and killing livestock. Small businesses do not have the resources to pay idle employees. Our small businesses are going to go under, and that will have disastrous effects on our economy and our people. It means loss of jobs, taxes, critical goods and services. When a business goes under, they then stop being a consumer of their raw materials, fuel, insurance, law firms and other businesses, and that causes a domino effect that leads to recession, then depression.

We have not been through a depression in almost a century, but it will take 10 to 20 years to recover. Depressions bring dire poverty unlike anything we’ve seen. Hunger. Foreclosures. Health care collapse. Rise in domestic violence, drug abuse, molestation, human trafficking and suicide.

This is why Republicans are yelling at Walz and other governors who are keeping us locked down. We get that human life is valuable. We do not want to see the elderly or sick sacrificed to save a few bucks and because “it’s our right.” We are not being selfish. We want to protect them, and our own children and grandchildren, from a misery far worse than an illness.

Brad Kramer

Albert Lea