As most citizens are now living under some form of lockdown order, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has taken what those lockdowns encompass to an extreme.
She’s banned the purchase of anything she considers “non-essential,” which includes items related to “lawn care, construction, fishing if boating with a motor, realtors, buying seeds, home improvement equipment and gardening supplies.” Some were even prohibited from buying car seats for children as a result of the order, though Whitmer later clarified that they were exempt. She has kept the state’s lotteries and liquor stores open, demonstrating an interested set of priorities for what is considered “essential.”
She has also implemented a fine of $1,000 for those who fail to stand six feet apart from each other, which could prove tricky to enforce. If someone doesn’t notice that someone just walked within a six foot radius of them, would they be fined as well? Common sense says they shouldn’t, but common sense and government are seldom seen together.
And if that wasn’t absurd enough, people are no longer to enter residencies they don’t own, even if it’s to visit family.
Even among those who understand the importance of social distancing, it’s clear that this is a step too far, and hundreds are turning out to protest it.
According to Fox News:
Hundreds of cars, trucks and SUVs descended on Michigan’s state capital Wednesday afternoon as part of a noisy protest against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s social-distancing restrictions that critics say have gone too far.
Of note, the Detroit Free Press says that the number of attendees is actually in the thousands, not hundreds.
Dubbed “Operation Gridlock” and organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, the protest did just that – creating bumper-to-bumper traffic throughout downtown Lansing as demonstrators blasted their horns, waved Americans flags and hoisted placards deriding Whitmer’s orders and demanding that she reopen the state’s economy.
Whiter has recognized, however, that residents have a right to protest under the Constitution, but asked demonstrators to do so safely.
“Everyone has a right to protest and speak up. We recognize that some people are angry and frustrated, and that’s okay,” Whitmer’s office said Wednesday in a statement. “The Governor will always defend everyone’s rights to free speech. We just ask those who choose to protest these orders to do so in a manner that doesn’t put their health or the health of our first responders at risk.”
The organizers of “Operation Gridlock” have asked anyone participating in Wednesday’s protest to “[d]isplay signs, make noise and be disruptive, but stay in your vehicle so that the ‘Whitmer police’ cannot say you are ignoring the ‘social distancing’ order.
While most protesters obeyed social distancing rules by remaining in their vehicles, dozens others did physically show up to the capital to protest.
