We call on liberty-minded Americans to lead the way in opening our country back up for business. Normal daily life may seem like a distant memory, but it was only a few months ago that we lived what appears now to be a carefree life. Over the last few months we have conditioned ourselves to live in fear of an invisible enemy. But the corrosive nature of this fear is that we now fear each other. If we do not conquer this fear as liberty-minded Americans, it will destroy civil society at its roots.

How do we conquer this fear? The answers lies in gaining perspective. Getting sick is not at issue. The issue is the mortality rate. We are now aware that the sneaky nature of this disease has undoubtably infected far more people than we have thought. There is also reason to believe that the virus was already here as early as January, when we were still living normal lives.

We need to understand that our flight or fight mechanism has been saturated and needs to be switched off. We are not aligned on a battlefield. We are in our communities with our neighbors. What we are experiencing is a crisis of confidence and trust. We must learn to trust each other again.

To date, statistics have been presented in a way that feeds our fear. Those same statistics can be used to quell the fear. We don’t need to argue about the specifics and precision of the stats. The mortality rate of Covid-19 may be higher than a regular flu season, but not to a level that should halt the wheels of the economy.

We may not have a lot of detail on the nature of this virus, but we do know that it disproportionately kills those age seventy and above. In other words, it kills a higher percentage of baby boomers than the other generations.

We are baby boomers, so we want to speak to our generation. Those of us with known risk factors for this disease should not take any unnecessary risks; however, many of us do not have those conditions. State “openings” mean nothing unless brave souls are willing to be the first to dip their toes in the water.

What is needed to get us out of this crisis is leadership from our generation. We do not need to suit up for battle. We just need to lead our families and communities back into normal daily life, using common sense as our guide to safety. While we grieve for the victims of COVID-19, we also are concerned about other victims as well—those forced out of jobs due to the lockdowns. The economic engine needs us to restart it in our roles as consumers. Overcoming the inertia of being at rest economically will require a force of will that has never been seen. We will be putting ourselves at risk to enter crowded venues like restaurants and sporting complexes again, but we will not live forever no matter what we do. The question is quality of life, and you can choose to live scared for perhaps a longer period of time, or you can choose to live a full live for whatever posterity determines. The legacy we leave the generations behind us depends upon our choice as Americans.

As proud, liberty-minded Americans, we call on other liberty-minded Americans to lead the way and organize group participation in responsible public displays of consumption to the extent of our means.

Join us and add your name to this letter. Your name will appear right here.

First published on dhaugh.com by Dennis Haugh, on 12 May 2020 and re-published by permission.