After 7 weeks I got a haircut. Since I’m bald, you might think that I probably didn’t need one, except that I had enough hair to make a Trump swirl. There were the 2 young women owners and another customer in a chair 10 feet from me at the hair salon. The shop had been closed for 7 weeks due to the governor’s orders, and the owners had not been able to receive any assistance though they had applied for a small business loan as soon as they were made available. They told me that they would have gone out of business if they did not have husbands who were working. When I was finished, they called their next appointment to come in. Last evening, my wife and I went to our favorite restaurant to eat. We were allowed to sit on their deck only, which was limited in seating. The rest of the restaurant was empty. We drank water out of paper cups and had a menu that was destroyed after we used it. The waiters wore face masks, and the tables were far apart. The restaurant had been closed except for takeout orders for 7 weeks with most of the staff laid off. Many of their competitors are going out of business because they could not survive 7 weeks of no income. My coffee shop has been closed except for takeout orders for 7 weeks and remains so along with many other shops and outlets.
The idea of closing all “unnecessary” public shops and areas where people congregate, such as the baseball field, was done to “flatten the curve” or lessen the burden on the health-care facilities. What was necessary was decided by politicians and many of the larger congregating areas were allowed to stay open. The grocery stores were definitely necessary and so were the doctors’ offices. But most doctor appointments were canceled, which did not make any sense to me. While I could not get a haircut or eat in a restaurant, I could wait in line for 10 minutes in the pouring rain to get into a Walmart. I was standing behind a man, with a full beard and no face covering, with 2 small children. Most of the people in the store were not wearing face masks, and even those who were, handled the fruits and vegetables that were out in the open. While the store had signs and floor markings to keep people separated, it was impossible to stay away from everyone while shopping. There were only 2 checkout registers working alongside the self checkouts, and there were long lines of people with full carts trying to leave. I thought that it was much safer in the salon getting my hair cut.
The health workers told us about the virus and how it was spread. The politicians then tried to interpret what to do and came up with a partial quarantine, which shut down most small businesses. The large stores remained open, and even then there was very little spread of the virus in our county. Most of the cases were in nursing homes and contained very quickly. While many of the small businesses were going out of business, the limiting of the number of people allowed in the grocery stores still allowed large numbers of people to congregate together, yet there was not a great increase in cases. The salon and restaurant that I went to took much greater precautions than any of the large stores but were not allowed to open. The restaurants are still closed except for outdoor seating and out orders. The virus has made a little over 100 people ill with a few deaths, which were in the nursing homes. The closing of small businesses, without even trying to let them operate with sensible separation and cleansing, has caused much more pain than the virus could have done. Politicians acting as if they were doctors have severely hurt much of our local economy and the people that were invested in it.
There is nothing more dangerous than a politician who is allowed more power than he or she is capable of using. We have just seen what a socialistic state would look like and those that are pushing for socialism should take a good look at what has just happened. After socialism is in place, the politician keeps trying to gain more power, and soon there is total government control with all power in the hands of a few. Next is dictatorship. If you don’t believe me then read some history, but you have just seen what too much power in government’s hands can do. The destruction of the small business community is just the beginning if we allow this to continue. Health concerns can be addressed in a much more sensible way than what we have just observed. God help us.
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