Mike Rowe, former “Dirty Jobs” host and founder of the Mike Rowe Works Foundation, said that there really isn’t such a thing as a “nonessential worker” when he was interviewed recently by Fox News host Dana Perino. 

Rowe said, “Right now, there is this fascinating conversation going on on your network and all the networks, where we are making a distinction between essential workers and nonessential workers. Not to oversell it, but there’s something tricky with the language going on here because, with regard to an economy, I don’t think there is any such thing as a nonessential worker.”

Rowe continued, “I just wanted to make the point that, when we talk about the economy, all work is essential.” It is clear that Rowe doesn’t like the language being employed by the politicians about the American workers and their importance in the economy.

Many governors all over the country are shutting down businesses who they deem to be “nonessential” but what do these government politicians know about the workers of America and what we do to make the country run? Absolutely nothing. 

Obviously, these governors have never listened to the story “I Pencil” by Leonard E. Read about all the products, businesses and skills it takes to make just a single pencil. In telling the story, Read explains all the people along the way that go into making a pencil: the loggers; the suppliers of the heat, belt and motors for the waxing and drying; the men who poured concrete for the dam that provides the power; the transporters; the makers of the glue; the miners of the graphite; the crew of the ships that send the graphite to the factory; the workers at the rubber company who make the erasers…and the list goes on.

The same thing is true for all other products and businesses. We all work together in unison. None of us are an island unto ourselves. Every business relies on other businesses – accountants; attorneys; office supply stores; IT people; businesses who remanufacture toner; businesses who wash windows and clean rugs; construction companies who build and fix things for companies; and many others.

You can’t just stop 90% of the cogs in the wheel and expect capitalism to survive. Mike Rowe called it a “quilt” and if you start pulling on jobs and tugging on careers here and there, the whole thing will bunch up in a weird way.

Or maybe that’s the goal, especially with the tyrannical governors like Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer who keeps oppressing the people in her state more and more every day. We know the Democrats want more government control and for everyone to live in a socialist society. This could be their fast track to that fantasy. Never let a serious crisis go to waste. This could be a test to see how much they can get away with.

I wonder, at what point, there will be civil disobedience, not only by the people who are tired of being stuck at home, but also from the businesses who will decide to fight to survive? 

At what point will the businesses decide to take their chances and open again even under a “stay-at-home” order? I would assume some, if not many, might be willing to face the fines and possible jail time if it means stopping the total destruction of their lives and a collapse of their home town. It’s hard to believe that business owners are just going to sit back and let their businesses go bankrupt.

I’ve talked to local businesses in my own small hometown in Michigan and many of them only have a few more weeks they can hold on before they are finished. And even then, they are going to be in a bad financial situation for a while.

Today’s job numbers show 6.61 million more people filing for unemployment. Add that to the previous two weeks and you end up with 16.7 million jobs lost. And it will only get worse if we don’t open our businesses again soon. 

Serious discussions need to be taking place on how we can protect people from the virus and save the economy – and the PEOPLE need to have a say because right now we are just bystanders living under tyrannical governors.