This is my opinion and it won't buy you a $1 mask

I last sat down and offered my opinion on January 1, 2020. Little did I know at the time that three months later the United States of America would be in a state of emergency due to the Coronavirus that has ravished the entire world.

I am not attempting to direct blame on anybody nor am I attempting to offer any solution other than "Listen to the experts." That sounds like a novel thing to do but unfortunately in the age of Trumpism, it's not so simple.

As for listening to the experts, I'm mainly talking about Anthony Fauci who just happens to be the top epidemiologist in the world. The person not to listen to in this pandemic is the President of the United States. Why is that necessary? Here's my opinion.

As a truck driver, I travel to different states throughout the southeast. Most if not all of those states are controlled by Republican governors. Some have accepted the "Shelter In Place: orders while others have flat out rejected any such orders.

The president is openly encouraging insurrection against such orders and has targeted certain states run by Democrats to stage protest against those orders.  You can recognize the adherence to the orders by the number of people you see wearing a mask in public. 

You would think that a $1 mask would be a small investment to prevent the spread of a virus which to date has taken the lives of over 40,000 citizens. Not the case. The majority of these citizens have bought into the idea that the economy is more important than human lives.

In a nation that also thought that owning slaves to do manual labor rather than doing such labor themselves, this idea is not new. Low wage workers are on the front line bagging our groceries, delivering our pizzas, and doing all the jobs that are impossible to do from their homes.

There are people who have bought into the idea that the stock market and their millionaire bosses bank accounts are more important than their own lives.

If you have ever wondered why poor white folk in the South would put their lives on the line so that the white landowners could continue the inhumane practice of slavery, just look around. The next time you are in public and you witness someone openly defying the safety and welfare of the public for economic reasons, this is the "New Confederate." They even have the audacity to bring the Confederate flags out of their closets and attach them to their pickup trucks. What's next, wearing a hood (which now would be a good idea), burning a cross and yelling, "Heil Hitler," Which is interpreted by sane thinking people as being, "Heil Trump."