In the wake of our bout with COVID-19, stores and businesses are opening again. And issues exist that must be addressed.

The Constitution guarantees all Americans the right to live as they choose. Whether it be running businesses or practicing the religion of our choice, we all have the right to choose.

COVID-19 is indeed serious. Caution is necessary in dealing with it. But social-distancing ordinances and the mandatory shutdown of businesses runs directly contrary to our fundamental rights.

Winston Churchill said, “Socialism or overweening state life, whether in peace or war, is only sharing miseries and not blessings. Every self-respecting citizen in every country must be on his guard lest the rulers demand of him in time of peace sacrifices only tolerable in a period of war for national self-preservation.”

We are not in a time of war. In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln called America’s government a “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” As laid out in the Constitution, our government was created to serve us, the people, so that we would be free to live.

It is time for us to get back to our lives and petition the return of that freedom. Let us exercise our rights that they would not perish from the earth.

Hunter TateIgnacio