To the Journal editor:

In the past few weeks, we have become use to the phrase “abundance of caution.”

This phrase is so foreign to American’s past. I have trouble seeing our forefathers fighting the English, pioneers trekking west, Wright Brothers conquering flight, the invasion of Normandy or achieving any daring accomplishment hiding in our basements and homes till the

Government tells us the coast is clear. Zero risk is not possible. Every year, over 40,000 people die in traffic accidents yet the majority still choose to drive. Nine people have died from snowmobiling accidents alone in the Upper Peninsula since January.

I am not belittling the seriousness of this pandemic. It is real and will bring sorrow to many. But, the response of giving up so much freedom to governments at both the state and federal levels, which are working off incomplete information and models good, though, they may be is troubling.

The common phrase “question authority” has given way to tattle on your neighbor and electronic peer shaming. Just look at Michigan’s one size fits all approach to quarantine. Their highly restrictive approach may make sense in the Detroit area where the affect of the disease is devastating, but seem to be a bad fit in the U.P.

Many moved to the U.P. to avoid the environment in Detroit that has made it more susceptible to the virus. Instead the goal seems to be equality in group suffering and protect the masses who are too unreliable to make informed decisions on their own.

Sooner or later, we all will have to look at available information and incomplete science and move forward into the unknown on our own out of the safety of the all-knowing Government.

Some will sprint ahead while others still stay at home. It is the reality and the danger of real life, but it is the freedom of America. Let’s hope it returns soon.

Robert Blotter

Marquette