Coronavirus efforts a collectivist plot? Missouri senator is dangerously short on facts

Missouri state Sen. Ed Emery, a Republican from Lamar, has joined the list of politicians who have attempted to undermine lifesaving actions taken to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic.

In a Sunday newsletter entitled “Independence vs. Collectivism,” Emery says widespread stay-at-home orders and social distancing rules are unneeded.

“It is hard to deny that a more targeted response might have stalled the virus without the same devastating impact on families and businesses,” he writes. “Maybe we could have opted for targeted directives instead of broad orders, many of which either seem to be a violation of jurisdiction or possibly unconstitutional.”

Emery is, of course, misguided on the law — the Constitution clearly enables governments to protect the lives and health of citizens. And questions about jurisdiction could be easily solved in Missouri if Gov. Mike Parson would issue a much-needed statewide stay-at-home order, which he has refused to do, even as the number of cases in the state has ballooned.

Emery’s also wrong on the facts. Missouri’s coronavirus response has clearly been more “targeted” than other states’, yet the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Missouri has grown dramatically: from one case on March 7 to more than 900 cases on Sunday.

Perhaps that’s because Missouri has tested only about 230 people per 100,000 residents, according to one study, a rate lower than Wisconsin, Tennessee and Louisiana, among other states.

Equally troubling, though, is Emery’s suggestion that government efforts to protect Missourians’ economic health are somehow inappropriate. He compares Congress’ recently-passed $2 trillion relief package to Franklin Roosevelt’s actions during the Great Depression.

“Maybe we could have avoided a $2 trillion bailout that may turn out worse than FDR’s,” the newsletter says. “At least his plan involved work.”

Is Emery really arguing against the New Deal? Or saying tens of thousands of unemployed Missourians don’t deserve assistance in this crisis? Or hospitals? Or small businesses that are trying to hang on?

The newsletter is appalling.The senator seems to think the coronavirus is some Marxist plot.

“Either we realize how dependent we have become on government and reject having government direct our lives at the expense of our liberty,” he writes, “or we think ourselves more helpless than ever without government and submit to even more collectivist central planning.”

Orders that regulate movements and private enterprise during the pandemic aren’t about individualism or collectivism. They’re about life, or sickness and death.

We stay at home to stop the spread of the virus and save lives, but it only works if others stay home, too, if they can. The virus is largely spread by personal contact.

This is a community crisis, and a community-wide effort will be the only thing that ends it. Emery’s ill-informed broadside, and others like it, undercut that understanding and will inevitably make more people sick.