By BERNADETTE WILSON
Your chances of surviving COVID-19 are greater than 99%.
Take a break from all the headlines, the press conferences and the emergency alerts, and stop and truly ponder that statistic – A survival rate greater than 99%.
Yes, people are going to get COVID-19. It’s a virus. It spreads. That’s how viruses work. That should not be alarming.
Yet in the name of saving our health, we are losing the very essence of who we are as a culture and as a society.
Our children are being deprived of an adequate education. Our friends and family are losing their livelihoods. We are being told to give up basic constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.
Look around you. The conversations standing in line at the checkout counter are minimal, the eye contact and friendly smiles at the grocery store are nearly nonexistent.
I’ve seen children playing sports with sweat-soaked masks covering their faces. We’ve effectively been told not to assemble. Going to church is a hazard for your health, we’re told, and in a warped way, we are being sold a lie that our constitutional freedoms are now “selfish.”
It’s time for a truly American reset and reflection and there is no better time than this Thanksgiving.
When the first pilgrims came to America, nearly 50% of them died that first winter. Stop and think about that – they had a nearly 50-50 chance at dying when they came to the New World.
Yet they came.
They came despite the risk, because the promise of freedom, the ability to worship and educate their children, the ability to live and work without an oppressive government were worth it.
They knew their friends and family, including their own children, could potentially die, but they knew that their freedoms were worth the risk and they came because the promise of a free world was worth the health hazard and even death.
That first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock is especially important for us to reflect on this Thanksgiving. Stop and reflect on the very essence of freedom that our country is founded on. The first pilgrims and our forefathers understood health risks far better than any of us will ever appreciate.
“Give me liberty or give me death” was not some cliché. It was truly a way of life, a comment from the heart that spoke in a very real sense of a risk that was understood and freedoms that were valued.
Across our great city and state and nation we are being told not to gather this Thanksgiving. Nearly 8 million more Americans have slipped into poverty since the pandemic. Children have been told that they cannot go to school. People have lost their jobs and businesses are closing their doors. Churches have been hammered with “social distancing” mandates.
The American Dream is hardly thriving under these conditions.
Now, as a collective body with our family and friends we have now been told “do not assemble.” The very freedoms our forefathers fought for are now being sold to us as a health hazard.
No current elected official anywhere in Alaska, no government bureaucrat, understands the risk of death versus freedoms better than our forefathers. Yet the Constitution was written and the Bill of Rights was forged with no caveat — and the Founders of our country faced illnesses far worse than COVID-19.
The ability to work and worship without an oppressive government is not selfish. Your freedoms are not selfish. In fact, your freedoms are worth the health risk. That belief is the very foundation of our great country.
Those who would convince you that your freedoms are selfish? Their ilk never got on the boat to begin with.
This Thanksgiving let’s reflect on that first Thanksgiving – how we got here and why we came. It’s time for an American reset. Your freedoms are worth the risk.
Happy Thanksgiving. May we continue to be blessed as “one nation under God.”
Bernadette Wilson is a business owner, mom, and civic leader in Anchorage.
For those easily deceived since the 2002 when the greatest assualt i ever lived through because i was old enough to recognize it on my freedom and Americans freedoms as simply as removing shoes at the airport with intense TSA security screenings while family and friends no longer were allowed to attend you right up to the gate. those so willingly put on a mask and passively accept the socialist democrat and rhino tyrannical control reveal their ignorance and lack of knowledge about American and World Histories, even lacking common sense.
This Thanksgiving You will enjoy going over on to http://www.focusonthefamily.com and listen to its radio audio ‘Celebrating The Miracle of Thanksgiving.’ It will make the reader at heart inspired into reading the pilgrim writings about Squanto, a man of faith whose tragedy that could had broken him and put him as a woe as me person nothing is right in the world, and he is going to die a lonely man, but what man meant for evil, God used for good. The story between him and those pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower is the least known miracle Americas are unaware occurred that shows God had his hand on America and attended setting apart this land to be a blessing over the world over.
This Thanksgiving You will enjoy going over on to http://www.focusonthefamily.com and listen to its radio audio ‘Celebrating The Miracle of Thanksgiving.’ It will make the reader at heart inspired into reading the pilgrim writings about Squanto, a man of faith whose tragedy that could had broken him and put him as a woe as me person nothing is right in the world, and he is going to die a lonely man, but what man meant for evil, God used for good. The story between him and those pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower is the least known miracle Americans are unaware occurred that shows God had his hand on America and intended setting apart this land to be a blessing over the world.
Half of America is hiding in their “safe places”. The other half are praying mightily, not to the real creator, but to the little gods of their own hearts. They’re going to “Name it and Claim it” and “Stand on the Promises” until they’re blue in the face.
Half of us have traded freedom for safety; and all of us will end up with neither.
Truer words were never spoken, what is happening in Alaska, and especially in Anchorage is tyranny pure and simple.
Are there enough of us to make the changes needed? No election per the City charter, no recalls being allowed, these things simply can’t stand!
Thank you Bernadette for sharing this message. I am thankful for MRAK and especially for Suzanne.
It is important that the populace be reminded of the sacrifices of our founders and the legacy that they bequeathed upon us. The question we now must decide is what actions are we willing to take going forward.
Our founding fathers actually knew what the words liberty and constitutional rights mean. Nowadays too many have no clue what those words mean. With liberty comes vast amounts of personal responsibility, our constitutional right likewise carry enormous amounts of personal responsibility something many nowadays do not have.
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I don’t need the government to tell me to wear a mask, wash my hands, and stay away from others…I figured that out all on my own. It’s sad that other’s haven’t been able to figure out such basic things and blame government for their lack of knowledge and personal responsibility.
Bernadette, you go, girl. It was my honor to have the Zipay boys in class a couple of centuries past in class. I can see the apple fell pretty close to the tree. I’m tipping my hat to you for your patriotism and your spunk, truly Zipayish. Feel free to contact me…I wrote a book about the high school stomping grounds of the Zipay boys and their friends, wanting to show that KIDS MATTER. And you’re one of those. ([email protected])
Thank you, Susan.
Bernadette Wilson for Mayor and then on to the US Senate to replace LIsa Murkowski! Tell us where to make political contributions and let’s elect this great patriot as our new Mayor!
I agree 110%
First of all, Bernadette, you need to read your history more deeply. Half of the Mayflower died because they were unprepared. They left England too late. They brought cases of shoes instead of cows. They were blown off course and lingered in their filthy boat instead of getting off and getting fresh air. Some sources even suggest there were Pilgrims who committed suicide during this time. They were simply unprepared. This doesn’t diminish their resilience or their unparalleled future cooperation with Massasoit and his people. But let’s not completely attribute their deaths to a willingness to die for an ideal. Instead, I’ve always taken inspiration in their resilience in the face of such terrible circumstances. In spite of those deaths, they kept going. Also, keep in mind that later in 1630, when thousands of Puritans migrated to nearby Boston, they did not suffer such casualties. They were prepared.
Next, Bernadette, what about the hospitals? There are places in our country where the hospitals are getting filled, and more importantly, the staff is getting burnt out. What do we do when grandma can’t get a bed after she falls? What do we do when someone needs an ICU bed after a heart attack and they can’t get adequate care because the nurses are stretched too thin?
And our liberties, Bernadette, are not limitless. Our founding fathers never intended them to be. John Adams himself wrote about the balance between liberty and security. When I get on an airplane, I surrender my right to have a warrant before the authorities search my person and belonging. And as you should remember from Civics class, my freedom to swing my fist ends where your nose begins. During World War II, the government imposed blackouts over coastal cities and restricted the purchasing of regular household staples. Was that restricting the liberties of Americans? Absolutely. Would you have protested those restrictions as well?
And finally, the numbers. Bernadette, you like to point out that less than one percent will die from this virus. You are correct. The last estimate I saw was 0.6 percent – a small percentage to be sure. But think about that, please. If 700 Alaskans get infected today, that means 4 of them will die. Four Alaskans will die that got infected today, and you’re fine with that? Sure, we can say they had co-morbidities, they were old, they were already sick. We can deny the death rates and science ad nauseam, but four Alaskan are still dead who would have had more time with their families. Is it worth saving four lives a day to do things that will slow the spread of this virus until we have access to a vaccine?
Just a few thing to think about.
AK Transplanted. I suggest sir that you read the real documents, not some ass-hats revisionist interpretation. You may be surprised to learn something new. I suggest Madison’s notes…
As for your dire warnings about safety, it occurs to me that driving 4 wheelers, binge drinking , mountain climbing , free love and contact sports are also fraught with risk. In fact life is full of choices and risks. Locking down is repression, the free individual can navigate his or hers liberty quite well.
Thank you, Older, I am quite comfortable with the original documents. I prefer them to interpretations and extrapolations. Perhaps we can agree, then, that the Founding Fathers were many things, but united in all opinions certainly isn’t one of them?
As for your statement about risky behaviors, I agree – life is full of risks. We can’t drive down the street without some level of risk. It strikes me, though, that all of the activities you mentioned, with the exception of binge drinking, impart the greatest level of risk on the actual person participating in the activity. If I choose to bungee jump or play rugby with reckless abandon, the greatest risk of injury lies with myself. I choose the activity, I primarily suffer the consequences.
With a contagious virus, though, it’s different. The consequences lie with someone else. When someone chooses to engage in a risky behavior, the person may be infected but they do not know it yet. Therefore, their risky behavior has a consequence for someone else, who may or may not have chosen to put themselves at risk. That person, then, has had their liberties infringed upon by the infected person.
Finally, I haven’t heard any coherent argument in the original post or replies about the very real risk of an overloaded medical system. We thankfully don’t seem to have hit that yet in Alaska, and hopefully we will be prepared and never will. Other cities and regions of the Lower 48 have. Their medical workers are being pushed to the edge in some cities. What do you say to this possibility?
“With a contagious virus, though, it’s different. The consequences lie with someone else. When someone chooses to engage in a risky behavior, the person may be infected but they do not know it yet. Therefore, their risky behavior has a consequence for someone else, who may or may not have chosen to put themselves at risk. That person, then, has had their liberties infringed upon by the infected person.”
I respectfully disagree. Here is an example: People who choose to drive in a blizzard with icy, slick, hazardous road conditions have the freedom to make that choice. So if they get into an accident (someone else loses control and hits them; or one car loses control on the highway and causes multiple collisions and possibly deaths) responsibility falls all drivers in that they all made the decision (while understanding the risks) to brave the roads despite the hazardous conditions. So with a contagious virus, people who understand the risks will go out in public knowing what the risk is. Those who are vulnerable (or afraid) have the choice and freedom to stay home (or use curbside pickup; or have groceries delivered).
If I got infected from going to work, shopping, or going out in public, I would not blame anyone. Yes, it would be unfortunate, but I would accept what responsibility was mine (based on decisions I made) and move on.
You must be a lower 48er who’s come to AK to work in the university system. All of you elitist ilk think you know more and better than everyone else. Which really just makes you stupider than everyone. Please post your resume as a comeback as you elitists enjoy doing.
Say there Transplant,
While you were ‘deeply’ reading American history, you must have missed the part where the colonies were socialist at the start. They called it the ‘common pot’. Everyone put everything into a common pot and divided up the contents. Didn’t work out well at all. Socialism very nearly destroyed America before it was founded. The Pilgrims, other colonists and colonial governor realized that socialism would kill them all. The only way they survived was by abandoning socialism and switching to the beginning of capitalism. The colonist/Pilgrims survived and thrived on the system where everyone could work as hard as they wanted and trade their skills, wares and crops to their own benefit. Those who worked and planned best thrived as did the entire colonies. Socialism has been a failure throughout history.
What is being perpetrated on Americans now is the most blatant, bald faced scam in history. By the leftists/globalists/socialists. How can so many people be so gullible?
Vaccine? You’re dreaming. They already announced that if a person has severe side effects from the vaccine, they will need a second one to counteract the first one. How does that sound to you? Know what ‘exponential’ means? All the pharmaceutical companies have been given preemptive immunity for malfeasance and ‘unseen’ side effects of their vaccines, deadly or not.
Power is the disease, not wuhan v.
What is happening to our restaurants and bars in Anchorage is criminal. I am just amazed that the owners haven’t risen up as a group and told the fake mayor to take a flying F at a rolling donut. They should pool money, hire an attorney and file a brief in US District Court to get compensated for the removal of their constitutional rights under mandates that are illegal under the law.
What an incredible person you are Bernadette. Keep up the fight
In the last few years our constitutional rights have been trampled into the dirt.
We were once a nation that lived under laws (which were each independently ratified by a legislative body of the state)…now we live in a police state where “leaders” elected or appointed can toss new mandates at us like we are all some low level corporate employees in their mail room.
Traveling to Costco to buy groceries, I have seen how far this absurdity has gone….lines around the building in winter to limit customers inside, mandatory face coverings, a patron walking around inside with a full body PPE suit (including hair covering & goggles).
Patriots will need to forge new alliances outside of government if we are going to protect the private sector for future generations since civil servant attorneys in leadership have no value for the real economy that got them into that six figure “cush” job.
I have shared your message with my family. I could not express my feelings so well. Wish I had your talent with words. Thanks, Trig
One percent means 3.5 million Americans dead. Apparently you would be OK with that?
Ralph go back to LA Please!
Hey Ralph, how many have died? 255000. And 94% of those died of heart disease, influenza, pneumonia, cancer, and other diseases. You are one of those parroting the “projections” from last January. The reality is, this virus is a non event.
Now, Madam Bernadette, as one skilled in trash removal, how do you suggest productive Anchorage residents fix this problem?
To help clear my mind I took the cable box back to GCI and turned off the TV over three months ago and drove over to the ADN office and Cancelled my subscription to the paper. I think everyone needs to get back to work, with everyone back to work I think it might well be the best cure we can come up with for this darn Chinese Virus ,,,
How do I sign the Felix Rivera recall petition?? Unfortunately, I am in his district…
Thank you, Bernadette!
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