Yes, with no fanfare and little media coverage, the Michigan-run Senate passed a lockdown bill on March 25th. 

Not to be outdone by Democrat Governor Whitmer, the Michigan Senate wanted to flex their muscles and show us all how they prefer to control Michigan restaurants, events and venues during an “emergency.”

By the way, how many “emergencies” last more than a year? But I digress…

Their bill, which is called SB-0250 is a nine-page edict on how Michigan businesses would be shut down based on the fluctuating coronavirus test “positivity rate” OR the number of beds being used by the hospitals to treat coronavirus patients. 

It has trigger points which define rules based on test positivity rates of 3%, 7%, 10%, 15%, 20% and over.

The rules would apply for the state and also for local health departments so if one of them doesn’t ding you, the other one will. 

Maybe your county is doing well and is only sitting at a 2% test positivity rate. Too bad. The rest of the state is not – so YOU WILL CLOSE if they say so.

Never mind that there are many organization out there (including schools) using the inaccurate rapid antigen tests. According to the CDC, with people showing symptoms, the tests are only accurate 80% of the time. If not showing symptoms, that accuracy number goes down to 41.2%. 

And this is what the Republicans want to use to mandate rules that control the livelihood of people and their businesses all across the state?

No thanks.

And what kind of consistency will businesses have if things can change every seven days? How do you run a business like that?

The bill was introduced by Senator Jon Bumstead of Newaygo. Guess how many Republican senators supported this tyrannical bill? All of them. It was unanimous. Yes, really.

Democrats didn’t like the bill because they want the Governor to run everything and the Republican’s bill doesn’t mention mask mandates and it looses up contract tracing (getting your name and number when you go to a restaurant).

I’m not exactly sure they the Republicans bothered with this bill. It does nothing other than to piss off their voters. Even if the House passes it, the Governor won’t sign it and they don’t have the votes to override her. 

This legislation is the same kind of pre-Trump mentality of the Republicans that we have always been disgusted with. We are sick of Rinos and cowards and sick of not getting the kind of representation that we got for.

We don’t need Republicans who are Democrat-lite.

We don’t need Republicans who try to be a little less oppressive than the Democrats.

How about, if you are a Republican Senator, you actually fight for the rights and freedoms of the people you represent?

Try that once in a while.