To the Journal editor:

I am grateful that the Michigan Supreme Court 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 USA power comes from “We the People” and flows to our 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 Happines.s. 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 for COVID 19 at about 0.65%. Compare that with the death rate of the bubonic plague (66%), the Ebola virus (50%) or the SARS outbreak of 2003 (9.5%).

Even the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 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 far 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.