On Tuesday, the Orange County (CA) Board of Supervisors voted on guidelines to reopen businesses and get the economy moving again in the county.

On Wednesday San Diego County authorities announced they were extending lockdowns “indefinitely” despite lowering trends and extremely low COVID mortality rates.

As of Wednesday night Governor Newsom plans to force all beaches across the state to close as warm weather approaches.

Missouri is discussing a plan to reopen and Virginia’s governor told residents to expect a full economic reopening to take at least two years.

If it looks like no one knows what the hell is going on anywhere that’s because no one knows what the hell is going on anywhere. At this point the models are bunk, the reporting from hospitals is bunk and the statistics are bunk – mucked up by the promise of federal dollars for every reported COVID death.

Orange County seems to have the best approach – trust businesses and patrons to make the right decisions for their customers and their own safety. But what about everyone else? There seems to be no consensus on what the “right way” to open is. About the only thing people can agree on is that somebody else is wrong.

After being told in early March we needed “15 days to flatten the curve” we were then told we need “30 days to slow the spread” and then every blue state government went insane with power after that. The goal posts keep changing and every day more and more Americans are throwing up their hands in frustration. Everyone wants to know what “reopening” will look like.

Well, I can tell you exactly how America will reopen.

America will reopen when people show up at the beach anyway.

America will reopen when small businesses have been pushed to the point where they have to decide if feeding their families is worth risking arrest.

America will reopen when your neighbor goes ahead with that small birthday party they were planning.

America will reopen when you start meeting in the park for playdates.

America will reopen when performers start playing in the streets for tips.

America will reopen when nail salons start figuring out how to quietly and safely serve desperate housewives and barbershops start figuring out how to quietly and safely serve hairy husbands.

America will reopen when block parties start and Sunday visits to grandma and cocktail dates with your best friend on the front porch or in their kitchen.

America will reopen when the teenagers decide there’s no way they’re living one more day without their friends.

America will reopen when Americans who are ready feel safe to mix and mingle and protect each other where possible and appropriate.

I’m not telling you to be reckless. I’m telling you I trust Americans to be safe because no one loves your family more than you do.

The point is – America’s reopening will not be an act of “permission” from the ruling class. It will be like everything else important in this nation’s history – from the American Revolution to suffrage to the Civil Rights Era. It will be an act of will by the American people themselves. It will be resisted by the elitists in charge and we’ll do it anyway. It will be scolded by our “betters” in government and we’ll do it anyway. It will be ridiculed by the coastal Harvard set and we’ll do it anyway. Everything that has ever been good for the citizens of this country has been demanded and won by the people, not the permanent political class.

We’ll win our freedom (again) by small acts 0f rebellion and autonomy. One by one they’ll pile up – hugging your neighbor, meeting a friend, cutting hair. Civil liberties groups will file their suits and Americans will remind their politicians – big and small – that they serve at the will of the people, not the other way around.

America will reopen when you say it’s time…not when they do.