One could say the some of the decisions to shut certain activities down are knee jerk reactions in a time of crisis. I think if any of us was in positions of power, we would make some mistakes also.
That is very true, this is an emergency and people are dying. However Gov Whitmer had a history of these types of unilateral and arbitrary actions before the pandemic.
She is trying to shut down an energy pipeline that supplies propane to 300,000 residents of the Upper Peninsula. The previous administration and Enbridge worked out a deal where Enbridge would pay to replace the line with a much safer line in a bedrock tunnel (lots of good jobs for northern Michigan). She rejected that and wants to permanently remove the line. She has never explained how 300,000 Yoopers will heat their homes.
She wanted to raise gasoline taxes by 45 cents (this would result in Michigan having the highest gas tax in the nation).
Her administration outlawed the long legal in Michigan practice of deer feeding and baiting. Bait sales and hunting are important to rural economies. Hunting has a demographic problem. The average age of hunters is getting older and older. Less hunters means less dollars for rural small business. Banning baiting exacerbates this by discouraging old hunters who can't hike as far into the woods, and young hunters who need the affirmation of getting a deer to continue with hunting.
None of these policies had any support from the legislators that represent rural Michigan. She has earned the Emperor nickname.
To fight the Pandemic, she needs to work in the best interests of all Michiganders, urban and rural. To do that she needs to work with the Legislators to come up with policies that work for all of Michigan. She did not have a history of doing that before, and is not making any effort to do that now. Her focus has been on being Biden's campaign chairperson, politicking for the Veep seat, and political grandstanding on CNN and MSNBC.
