Our freedoms and personal liberties are what makes this country great. When taken away it leads to chaos, depression, and sheer madness with the countless petty rules that do not make sense. If we as a country are continuing on this path of “masking up” we need to have common sense rules that are inherent to our freedoms that we are granted by our constitution. With that said, yes Covid-19 is real but we can each make decisions that are practical and safe for our own health. We need to drop the heard mentality. It is not healthy and we will see long term issues for years to come.

The little big-town of Prescott does it right. The schools are open, safe, and working with their parents. While many families have chosen a virtual method, it is by choice not force. You can walk into a business without a mask and restaurants are booming with all the safety protection in place. It is a happy town filled with people living life by their own rules with most abiding by the choice mask for themselves or using the six foot rule. I felt safe, happy, and for the first time in almost a year I forgot about our personal liberties being robbed on a daily basis.

Yesterday, was the first day I strolled a store, outside of a market without gasping on my own recycled air in the mask of the day. It was fantastic and reminded be what life was like long ago. With the holidays around the corner we are being told not to gather, keep the elderly in their nursing homes, and are again stocking up for another shutdown. I think our founding fathers would be livid that we need to be told, forced, fined, and curfewed into personal responsibility. I argue that we do not. We need facts, high-risk groups need to hunker down, and we need to have respect not judgement for those that do not need to live in a bubble. Let them live. Let businesses thrive and not fade away.

While I will bubble up in the big city for my own safety. I will be heading out to my favorite escape more and more for a dose of everyday life and a reminder of the American spirit and personal freedoms.

May God Bless America!