If a business is to stay open or shut down, it should not be a question of whether Whitmer thinks it is essential or not. Instead, the business needs to be assessed on how certain it is to spread the contagion. Asking the question of "essential-ness" was the wrong place to start. What we should have been asking is : how do we keep as much of our economy safely in operation rather than how much we can shut down right away. This is the distinction which underlines the current aim of our leadership.
Sure, it's easy to see the stats and point to the skyrocketing death tolls, but it's near impossible to see the deaths from the despair that will follow from the economic devastation to come, much less predict it.
People once dreaming, now have hellish nightmares. Others are doing anything they can to keep themselves above the poverty line. Entrepreneurs who poured their blood, sweat and tears into their businesses are now seeing their life's work washed away by a simple stroke of a governor's mighty pen. To rub salt in the wound, the governor is encouraging people to snake out people trying to make an honest living in ways Whitmer deems unessential. The deal is, there's always welfare to fall back on!
Detroit is a prime example of how to form a block of Democrat voters by making them dependent on government hand-outs which rob individuals of their dignity and initiative. Any kind of incentive and opportunity for productive and enriching activity are perverted or hampered, and soon hope is lost and help is begged. Whitmer may claim she is trying to prevent the rest of Michigan from becoming like Detroit, but her lockdown policy is priming the pump for that inevitable result.
Why go down that road when there are far better solutions available?