This is why a continued quarantine may be more tenuous than the polls make it seem. A large majority of Americans approve, which is all well and good. But we should also ask just how intense the opposition of the minority is. If the minority is convinced that the government’s dictates are capricious, arbitrary, and ruinous, we should not expect them to sit idly by forever. 

Nor should we! This is the United States of America, after all. We are a nation of hard-bitten individualists, who nevertheless come together for the good of all. This notion is embedded in our very motto — e pluribus unum. The standard of fair public policy in our country is not to pick and choose winners and losers, but to try to harmonize disparate interests. The quarantines may have been necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19, but they have created a large and diverse group of losers. 

Imagine that you are somebody whose livelihood has been obliterated by the draconian and often nonsensical rules of some state governments. What would you do?  What if you make your living selling lawn and garden equipment in Michigan? It is a highly seasonal business, and the governor has effectively killed it off for this year.