On Tuesday, Ken Potrock, president of Disneyland Resorts, issued a statement criticizing the California government’s lockdown orders. And he didn’t “play nice” or grovel.
We have proven that we can responsibly reopen, with science-based health and safety protocols strictly enforced at our theme park properties around the world. Nevertheless, the State of California continues to ignore this fact, instead mandating arbitrary guidelines that it knows are unworkable and that hold us to a standard vastly different from other reopened businesses and state-operated facilities.
Potrock is right. California, and states across the nation, have been “mandating arbitrary guidelines” to deal with the pandemic. Rather than allow businesses, their employees, and their customers to decide what precautions are necessary and reasonable, government is issuing orders to everyone. Rather than allow individuals to make decisions regarding their lives based on their context, government is treating us all like four-year-olds.
The sad thing is, Potrock’s is a lonely voice. Few executives have demonstrated the courage to speak up, even as their businesses and employees suffer.
When the lockdowns began, we were told that they would save lives. But in the process, the lives of millions are being destroyed. Businesses have been closed, not because of poor decisions by the owners, but because government wouldn’t allow those owners to act on their own judgment.
While it is likely that many businesses would have suffered even if we had no lockdowns, leaving business owners free to develop and implement safety processes would have given them a chance. And it would have allowed them to remain in control of their destiny.
There are those who defend the lockdowns, claiming that they have worked. But with the United States passing 220,000 deaths (compared to Taiwan’s 7 deaths), one must question the values of those who claim lockdowns work. Lockdowns have not contained the virus.
It is time to let Americans get back to living their lives. But for that to happen, we need more brave individuals like Ken Potrock.