By Javier Manjarres
With 700,000 infections and 37,000 death having been attributed to the COVID-19 virus in the U.S., and with the national infection and death statistics continuing to rise, federal and state officials have decided to keep in place the social distancing, self-quarantine, and stay-at-home orders they imposed.
These orders have caused all kinds of damage to the national economy, leaving millions of people having to file for unemployment, and because people aren’t working, the federal government was forced to bail out Americans by a tune of $2 trillion.
But just this past week, the number of cases of the deadly virus have gone down, leaving many Americans demanding that state and federal officials lift those life-saving restrictions.
What’s worse is that some of these yahoos are citing The Constitution, saying that restrictions have compromised their right to assemble.
Listen, no one likes or wants to be locked up at home with family. I, for instance, struggle to work every day because my two daughters are tugging at my shorts wanting to play or go for a bike ride. My better half, who is pregnant and suffering from a bad case of morning sickness, is absolutely useless to us around the house.
Everything falls on me – working, cooking, cleaning, running errands, shopping, and watching the kids.
I get. We all get it, but these restrictions are in place to protect all of us. So, those of you who are out protesting in anger about the restrictions, check their purist egos at the door.
No one wants to catch this COVID-19 bug, so why not adhere to the restrictions for the time being?
Doesn’t the Constitution call for the government to protect Americans?
The Preamble to The Constitution states that U.S. government was created to “provide for the common defense” and “promote the general welfare” of Americans.
"We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Imposing restrictions on Americans to help stop the spread of the deadly virus is promoting the “general welfare” of the country.
President Trump recently stated that the U.S. was “at war” against an invisible enemy, so any and all measures he and government officials impose to help prevent any more Americans from contracting the disease is providing for “the common defense” of the country.
So, all of you out there protesting the stay-at-home and work restrictions, know this:
While it is your right to express yourself, it is also the right of every other American to demand the federal government do whatever it takes to defend their rights.
And accept that it is Ok to have your rights temporarily suspended for the greater good of the country.
What good will any of your rights be if you are dead from the virus?
Get over it.
Javier Manjarres is an award-winning reporter and publisher of The Floridian.
