Talsma: 'It is not the government's role to dictate your personal lives'

Jasper County Supervisor Brandon Talsma said Americans are willingly giving up their freedoms for a false sense of security. | Facebook

By Kyla Asbury

Jul 16, 2020

Jasper County supervisor Brandon Talsma posted a video on Facebook on July 4 about his feelings regarding how the nation, states and local governments were handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Talsma started off by making sure it was clear that he wasn't speaking on behalf of anyone but himself and that he wanted to rant about what was currently happening.

"It's the fourth of July and we're celebrating America's freedom and America's birthday," Talsma said during his Facebook video. "When we said no to tyranny and oppression. When we said no to a government that we had no representation in. Our founding fathers and 3% of the population actually fought in the Revolutionary War."

Talsma said while our ancestors fought for freedom, Americans were now willingly giving up those freedoms.

"Because of a minor virus, we turn around and say, 'Oh yes, protect me, government. I will willingly give up my freedoms for a false sense of security,'" Talsma said. "Some people might wonder if I feel that way, why I agreed to shut down the county courthouse. It was political, I'm not going to lie. It was 100% political, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Because if a major outbreak did happen and you asked the county and we had not shut the county offices everyone would've been pointing fingers at us."

Talsma said people should be free to make their own decisions as to what, if any, precautions they wanted to take during the pandemic.

"It is not the government's role to dictate your personal lives and what you do and not do in your personal life," Talsma said. "Take the precautions that you want to take. Do what you feel is necessary to protect you and your loved ones. But, do not force somebody else to do the exact same. Businesses should've been allowed to call the shots on how they wanted to conduct business. The government should've been doing nothing more than helping hospitals prepare for worst-case scenarios and laying out plans for worst-case scenarios and helping get supplies. That's it. That's all they should've been doing."

ORGANIZATIONS IN THIS STORY