Here's the Republican governors putting an untold number of lives at risk in the name of so-called "freedom."

Alabama— GOP Gov. Kay Ivey

Arkansas—GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson

Iowa—GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds

Missouri—GOP Gov. Mike Parson

Nebraska—GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts

North Dakota—GOP Gov. Doug Burgum

Oklahoma—GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt

South Carolina—GOP Gov. Henry McMaster

South Dakota—GOP Gov. Kristi Noem

Texas—GOP Gov. Greg Abbott

Utah—GOP Gov. Gary Herbert

Wyoming—GOP Gov. Mark Gordon

Some state residents are celebrating the lack of restrictions. "Let's be honest, what country do we live in?” Brian Joens of Iowa City, Iowa, told USA Today. “It’s the USA, which is freedom, freedom to choose. When we get notes from the government saying do this or do that, it feels like that’s not what this country is built on."

Freedom to choose an increased likelihood of death for both you and your fellow citizens isn't exactly on what the country was founded. Individual life, liberty, and happiness was never intended to trump the public good of an entire nation. But this is what you get when the chief executive of the country, Donald Trump, fails to exhibit anything resembling clear and consistent leadership.

Social distancing works. The early measures taken in Seattle and California appear to be paying off, possibly averting the swamped hospitals that come with a glut of cases peaking all at the same time. Not only are all those Republican governors risking an untold number of lives, the economies they think they are boosting now will take far longer to recover to the extent that the coronavirus takes hold in their communities. The laissez-faire policies are as shortsighted as they are misguided and asinine.