Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin Wednesday, november 21, 2023, by devadmin
Together We Can Restore Freedom, Free Markets,
and Constitutionally Limited Government.
Let’s OPEN Oregon’s Economy NOW!
Last month’s thunderclap from Governor Brown’s pen has successfully dismantled Oregon’s commercial and industrial economy, from farm and ranch all the way to Main Street. Every municipality, un-incorporated city and wayside business district throughout Oregon has been thoroughly crushed.
All of this has been done under the guise of saving lives, but the numbers just don’t add up. CDC estimates that a range of 46,000 to 95,000 deaths occurred during the 2017–18 flu season. Based on new models and estimates COVID-19 will be less tragic than many previous strains of seasonal influenza.
The full spectrum, age bracket, death rates presented in mid-April’s CDC report shows COVID-19 results which vaporize the lock-down narrative. Among the 17,229 deaths in CDCs newly expanded “confirmed or presumed” COVID-19 categories nearly 80% of these tragic losses occurred with individuals over 65 years old. However, it is not age alone because there are other statistically relevant factors impacting the lives of these individuals.
Specifically, other chronic morbidities are more powerful predictors of impacts of COVID-19 on health. Elderly people who have chronic life-threatening morbidities, such as high blood pressure, obesity, respiratory illnesses, Type 2 diabetes and renal disease are the individuals who are more susceptible to the COVID-19 virus.
Unfortunately, Oregon’s misguided “one-size-fits-all” policy hamstrings the entire economy regardless of age, co-morbidity or any capricious designation regarding the “essential” quality of a business. Legislators, rule-makers and bureaucrats typically build exceptions and exemptions into their regulatory machinery to avoid capturing their own cronies. They are also extremely clever when it comes to choosing which portion of the private sector to tax, burden, regulate or bless as an “essential” business enterprise.
But, never forget, it is for the greater good.
It behooves officials to make their case with a nod to “science” in order to successfully persuade the public. But as time passes and our knowledge increases it is easy to see through the CDC’s faulty models and statistical rigmarole. The statisticians are now jiggering the numbers by including Influenza Like Illnesses (ILI) and COVID-19-Like Illness (CLI) to the total case and mortality counts in order to camouflage the weaknesses in their arguments.
Re-definitions of this type shouldn’t surprise anyone because in our lifetimes we have seen a constant stream of redefinitions; run-of-river hydro-power electric generation is no longer defined as “renewable energy”; Tumbler’s gender identity list for 2020 has 112 newly minted identities; a pregnant mother is only carrying a “baby” if the mom wants to allow the child to stay snug in her womb; during this “COVID crisis” shopping at some retail outlets is permitted while shopping at other retail spaces is not; outdoor activities like walking your dog, jogging, or biking in your neighborhood is permitted, but walking, jogging or biking in your local park, or the other 58% of Oregon’s millions of acres of public space is not permitted.
This top-down, one-size-fits-all mentality is more pernicious than the dreaded disease because it exterminates our humanity and shrouds our community in distrust. It fails to allow for our God-given natural freedom, our human dignity and our individual preferences.
Imagine the uncertainty business owners face while re-opening. When will they be “allowed” to open, who will set the timeframes, what are the rules for getting permission? Will plexiglass barricades be a new requirement between the public and employees? Will food servers at your favorite brew pub be required to serve your dinner and drinks cloaked in PPE (personal protective equipment)? How will businesses appropriately shun the marauding diseased that might roam through their stores?
How will businesses operating in retail, hospitality or food service re-engage their employees while complying with Oregon’s predictive scheduling requirements? Is it fair to demand 14-day advance notice for any changes to an employee’s schedule when the hoped-for customer demand may never arise?
Political economist Mark Thornton writes, “This Bust Wasn’t Caused by a Virus.” Even the WSJ reported on estimates from Stanford scientist John Ioannidis, “the U.S. fatality rate could be as low as 0.025% to 0.625% and put the upper bound at 0.05% to 1%—comparable to that of seasonal flu.”
Ioannidis added, “If that is the true rate, locking down the world with potentially tremendous social and financial consequences may be totally irrational. It’s like an elephant being attacked by a house cat. Frustrated and trying to avoid the cat, the elephant accidentally jumps off a cliff and dies.”
In Oregon, there are hundreds of thousands of people capable of putting in a full day of work while providing much needed industries, goods, services and normalcy to their communities. This is especially true for disenfranchised, impoverished or lower-middle-class employees and business owners who have been barred from work by virtue of a mis-applied “nonessential” government label. Our community, state and national economies have been entirely flatlined because of this mis-labeling naiveté.
In fact, the entire world economy is now way-off-kilter. West Texas Intermediate oil, for May delivery, plummeted to negative $40.32 per barrel. That’s right, they would pay you $40.32 to haul away a barrel of oil. The unemployed can now earn 130% of their normal working wage without working. Gone is any semblance of normalcy.
The unfortunate reality is that when 26.5 million people file for unemployment benefits nationwide and 300,000 Oregonians are furloughed, the severity of the damage to individual lives, families, and communities is incalculable.
The Constitution was written to cap, or limit, the extent of government’s responsibilities, not to expand them. Its purpose was well-understood, back when words had meaning. The meanings were known and understood without room for arbitrary changes in policy, authority or power.
Which is why it is appropriate to ask; how did the Governor gain so much unchecked power? Did past legislators who codified these statutory powers, consider the ramifications? Did they presume that only an elected official could faithfully exercise wisdom, good sense, justice and the warm feelings of humanity? Don’t all of us do that on a daily basis?
Continuing Oregon’s flawed, shut-down policy is devastating to individuals, families and businesses. New problems are already arising because of government fomented distrust within our communities. People now face isolation, financial ruin, bankruptcy, unemployment, loss of privacy, impoverishment and unwarranted fear of public spaces. As individual liberty is ravaged there will also be secondary and tertiary ramifications from psychological damage, suicide, violence and other, as yet, unperceived issues. The economic turmoil will continue for decades to come.
Now is the time to unleash the economic engines of Oregon and admit the statistical COVID-19 case curve has been flattened.
It’s long past time to visit our barbers, hairstylists, doctors, dentists, ophthalmologists, physical therapists, specialty retailers, local restaurants, brew-pubs, malls and shopping centers. Together we can bring needed rejuvenation and vitality back to Oregon’s families and businesses.
Regards,
Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate – District 28