To the editor:

I am grateful that the Michigan Supreme Court (MSC) had the courage to strike down the governor’s micro-management of our state. Finally, a branch of government willing to uphold the principle that in the U.S.A., power comes from “We the People” and flows to political leaders, not in the opposite direction.

The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all citizens possess certain inalienable rights, among them “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Due to fear-mongering, too many have lost sight of those self-evident truths, focusing exclusively on “life” and sacrificing all others.

I have no illusions about COVID-19. The disease is very real and anyone not taking reasonable precautions is legally liable in a court of law to persons injured by their negligence. Every death caused by COVID-19 is a tragedy. However, the hysteria surrounding this disease is creating a state of panic far beyond the actual threat posed.

The latest CDC calculations, which account for asymptomatic infections, put the death rate of the Bubonic Plague (66%), the Spanish Flu pandemic, which swept across the world in 1918-19, had a death rate of 10%, 15.4 times greater than COVID-19. Do these statistics really justify the cowardly reactions of our political leadership?

As a nation we have suffered are worse tragedies without abandoning our fundamental liberties. The MSC has proven that we do, indeed, live in a representative republic with checks and balances that prevent anyone from seizing control of our government. Although the governor’s short-lived exercise of absolute power was undoubtedly well intentioned, it has no place in the United States of America. After all, a benevolent overlord is still an overlord.