To #Ohio Gov. @MikeDeWine: I'm Dr. Larry Sanger, Wikipedia co-founder. I'm an Ohioan.

1/ I'm beyond being polite. I demand that you clarify the precise conditions under which all our freedoms will be restored. It's sickening I must ask this.

When will we be free again?

Answer!

2/ The removal of *basic civil rights* without adequate explanation or any indication of when it will end is tyrannical.

Are death rates increasing? No. The number of "confirmed" cases is, but the death rate is doing a random walk around levels reached last May.

3/ I'm not denying there is a deadly virus, that it is an epidemic, or that it is growing right now.

I am denying that it warrants silence on protecting our basic civil rights and liberties as Americans. I repudiate the notion of a "new normal." Why the silence? Clarify!

4/ Have lockdowns reduced rates in the past? That hasn't been established. Have they massively hurt local businesses? Yes, and *that* is provable. That was your fault, governor. Not the virus's. Yours. You didn't have to lock down. And masks? They too have no *proven* efficacy.

5/ Explain what the public policy on regaining our freedom is, according to you.

And since when did it become acceptable for free Americans to be governed by "orders" in our free republic?

Answer that, too, governor.

Have you forgotten our brave veterans died for our freedoms?

6/ Gov. @MikeDeWine, you made a curfew, of all things. Is the virus somehow especially virulent after 10 p.m.? The fact that you try to legitimize a curfew as a disease-fighting measure shows that your "orders" have little to do with fighting disease. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2020/11/17/dewine-announces-new-curfew-to-try-to-slow-covid-spread/

7/ Gov. @MikeDeWine, I am deeply ashamed of you.

I hope this message will reach you, that you will think again about our basic liberties, and that you will start pushing back against those who are pushing you toward these harmful, draconian measures.

Sincerely,
Larry Sanger

P.S. Folks:

Come on, people. Why are we complaining to each other? Shouldn't we be complaining to our elected representatives?

Let's start giving our local, state, and federal representatives an earache—explaining our dissatisfaction with their policies. That's still our right!

Update: I'm trying to get an appointment with my Ohio state representative to talk face-to-face (or mask-to-mask) with him about this.

Go thou and do likewise.

Bill before the Ohio House: would empower the House to override DeWine's lockdowns. Let's hope this bill passes the House by a sufficient majority to be veto-proof. I strongly urge my representative, @realJeffLaRe, to vote for the bill this afternoon! https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/state/2020/11/19/ohio-house-set-vote-bill-limiting-dewine-action-quarantines/3775374001/

I'm calling on my fellow Ohioans to urge their House representatives to pass this essential that is so essential to protecting our liberties and pushing back against a government totally out of control. https://twitter.com/lsanger/status/1329470066069532675