Americans are growing restless. We’ve done a decent job of doing what we can to help quell the coronavirus outbreak, but some of us are recognizing that many of our governors and other officials are jumping headlong into dictator-status in their efforts to fight coronavirus (or at least that’s the excuse they’re using). In response, a growing number of us are opposing the overreach. We’re Americans; we’re hard workers; we love our freedom; so it’s in our nature to resist anyone usurping our rights. And no two governors in America stand in starker contrast than Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem.

You might have heard that Whitmer restricted hydroxychloroquine a couple of weeks back, and most recently ordered that no group of any size may congregate, and has decided for her constituents what is and is not “essential” to their daily lives. She’s gotten so much criticism that she felt the need to clarify yesterday afternoon:

Governor Whitmer provides update on state’s response to COVID-19 https://t.co/TDJ8BDepS6

— Michigan State Police (@MichStatePolice) April 13, 2020

So, no, you can’t buy seeds and plants for which to grow your own food until she says you can, plebes. And to you small businesses: go get a small business loan and shut up.

Except Michiganders are not shutting up:

“At least 15,000 cars and trucks are expected to descend on Michigan’s state capital on Wednesday to protest what they’re calling Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s tyrannical new guidelines to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in the state.”

Why? Because they recognize that freshman Governor Whitmer has governed like a dictator.

Further, in an about-face to her First Amendment-stomping edicts, she’s had to amend her dictate there as well:

Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is backing down in the face of a pro-life activist’s federal lawsuit against her and Detroit police.”

It’s obvious to anyone who’s not a partisan hack that her motivation was the bedrock Democrat platform of Unlimited Abortion No Matter What, and not battling coronavirus.

And translation: she got caught violating the First Amendment rights of her constituents. But make no mistake, the woman who’s made herself the decider of what is and isn’t “essential” would have continued trampling all over the Bill of Rights had no one punched her in the neck.

“Quarantine is when you restrict movement of sick people. Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people,” Meshawn Maddock, an organizer of the protest with the Michigan Conservative Coalition, told Fox News. “Every person has learned a harsh lesson about social distancing. We don’t need a nanny state to tell people how to be careful.”

And at least one governor agrees.

In contrast, Governor Noem of South Dakota has thus far refused issuing a stay-at-home order, or dictates that tell her citizens what they can and cannot buy, or where they can and cannot go. And it’s come with near-constant slings and arrows from just about every direction.

“Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken called on the governor to issue a stay-at-home order for the city as the rate of COVID-19 infections accelerated in recent days; many came from an outbreak at a pork processing plant operated by Smithfield Foods.”

“Noem said she is evaluating the request, but resisted the notion that a more aggressive approach to get people to stay home is necessary. She said people are voluntarily taking precautions.”

Yes, she’s issued guidelines, but Noem, to her credit, and unlike some other Republican governors throughout America who’ve imposed stay-at-home/do-not-travel orders of various degrees of enforcement (my home state of Idaho is on that list; don’t get me started!), remains rooted in the principles of freedom and personal responsibility.

‘I have all the faith in the world of the people of South Dakota,’ Noem says. ‘They’ve been absolute rock stars in working to protect their communities and their families.’ The South Dakota Medical Association sent Noem a letter last week asking her to issue a stay-at-home order but there’s no indication she has any plans to reverse course.”

And just yesterday, Noem proactively announced a statewide hydroxychloroquine clinical trial to test the malaria drug’s effectiveness on battling, and even preventing, coronavirus:

We’ve received the initial doses we need.

Thanks to the leadership, of @SanfordHealth with assistance from @AveraHealth & @_monumenthealth, we’re now the first state to do a full clinical trial to test whether hydroxychloroquine can treat and perhaps prevent #COVID19

— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) April 13, 2020

Contrast that with Michigan’s gender-exploiting Whitmer who restricted Michigan’s doctors from prescribing hydroxychloroquine, and went so far as to threaten “administrative action” if they dared defied her. Why? Well, I’m guessing because Orange Man Bad and Google is Hard. And all in an effort to look strong and decisive for one Joe Biden. I wonder how many lives her ignorant dictate cost Michiganders?

And yet again, she’s since walked back that irrational decision, in stark contrast to the calm and thoughtful decisions made by Governor Noem.

And did I mention Noem’s unafraid to drop-kick the howler-monkey media?

"The public deserves the truth. And the truth is all the facts. And I would appreciate it if our media would remember that."

South Dakota Governor had some harsh words for the media.

pic.twitter.com/dV0oDBEieN

— Kambree (@KamVTV) April 13, 2020

I predict South Dakota will gain itself some freedom-seeking residents post haste…

The moral of the story is this: we are witnessing in real time what socialism looks like. The bread lines, the joblessness, the freedom-crushing dictates, the withholding of life-sustaining necessities that are inherent in that destructive system are on full display all across our nation. But we are also witnessing what the bedrock, unwavering principles of liberty look like, where a governor with a spine of steel, against massive pressure from all around her, has resisted the siren song of “give up your liberty for a little security.” Instead she has empowered both her citizens to make their own decisions on how to keep themselves and others safe amid this health crisis, and her state’s medical professionals to make the right decisions for their patients without her interference. And in so doing, the trial will hopefully both save lives and provide further data about the drug’s effectiveness to the country itself in its time of need, all without draconian dictates from the executive.

The contrasts between the two governors amid this crisis are clear: tyranny versus freedom; dependence versus self-reliance. The shut-downs must end; Americans need to get back to work. And it’s far past time we punt the petty dictators, and follow the lead of governors like Kristi Noem.

Feature Image Credit: austin_slack via Flikr and Kristi Noem via Wikimedia Commons; each under Creative Commons 2.0 license; images cropped and altered.