Thousands of people were on foot in the State Capitol protesting what they say is an overreach of power from the governor, in violation of the state lock-down order.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was the ire of the the group's protest with some protestors holding up and affixing signs to cars reading "Recall Whitmer."
Eric Tubbs drove nearly 150 miles from his home in Port Sanilac to Lansing to be a part of the protests. He agrees the virus is bad but says complete economic collapse will be far worse.
"We're destroying the economy and the whole country," Tubbs said.
Tubbs questions leadership actions taken by Lansing politicians.
"The state government has overstepped its authority with the statewide lockdown order and is doing more harm than good," Tubbs said. "The governor should be persuading people to understand the dangers of the virus but to use good common sense and rather than shut down the whole state to use a more focused approach."
Tubbs contends encouraging people to exercise good hygene and safe practices, and encouraging the elderly and immuno-compromised individuals to stay at home rather than the entire population would be a more reasonable approach.
He is worried about the unintended consequences of the order.
"I think we are doing more harm than we are preventing at this point," Tubbs said.
Tubbs worries about his children and grandchildren who are at risk of losing their jobs and may not have the resources to weather the lockdown. He also finds the order barring gasoline powered boat usage to be completely unnecessary and abuse of power.
Jeff Tillman drove 110 miles today to be a part of the protests.
Tillman said he went there today because, "I love my country and I love my state."
But he wants to see much more targeted and well thought out approach to deal with the coronavirus.
"The vast majority of Michiganders think this is a real overreach on what authority the governor has," Tillman said.
Tillman says the governor overstepped her authority and the legislature did not push hard enough to fight the order. He is excited to see such a large turnout in the capitol and encouraged to see fellow Michiganders protesting.
"I'm sure somebody's going to try to turn me into the government. That's how it's been going with neighbors turning on neighbors," Tillman said. "It's frightening for our country to see it happening and reminiscent of pre-Nazi Germany - how they did things with neighbors against neighbors and that's not what Michiganders are like."
Tillman does not fear being arrested for violating the state's lock-down today and if he is arrested, hopes to find an attorney who shares his belief that the governor has overstepped her authority and will help fight for dismissal of any charges he may receive.
He also criticizes misinformation going on surrounding the coronavirus outbreak and wants to see a standard method of reporting from every hospital.
The protests were part of a movement sparked by growing organization Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine. The group's Facebook following is in the hundreds of thousands and growing by tens of thousands every day, picking up 40,000 in likes in one day alone this week.
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