MAC GORDON: Until we’re clearer on coronavirus, I’ll do what my wife says

President Trump and many of the governors of this nation have quibbled for a month now over which party – he or they – has the authority to re-open the country in the wake of the coronavirus.

Trump one day made an iron-fisted claim that the right was his and his only. “I have that total authority,” he said. He backtracked on that exactly 24 hours later, acknowledging, “The governors are responsible. They have to take charge.”

If my count is correct, that marked the 387th time in his presidency to change his mind overnight on a major issue of the day. But who’s counting?

Excuse me, how in the dickens are either the president or the governors going to be able to make the citizens of the United States do anything?

I think I was correct when I posted an opinion on Facebook a couple of days after this brouhaha, saying, “I won’t need to ask him or anybody else when I can re-open my life. (My wife) Mary Lee is fully capable of deciding that for me.”

Get that, all you other married men out there? When did anyone other than your spouse have the authority to tell you what to do, when you can do it, how you can do it, where you can do it and who can see you do it?

It’s been that way in my household for time immemorial and has been for most other guys who just thought – until they got home that day – that they wore the britches in their house.

My opinion on this matter was confirmed on Facebook by close to 100 people – mostly men — who said I was right-on with my assessment.

Starting with the most important asset any of us have, whether they’re our own, grandkids or children of friends, who is going to send a child back to school in August or September with any possibility that they still could be infected? I’ve never known any school officials who would take such a chance by re-opening their system in such a time.

There have been many irresponsible so-called religious leaders who have defied shelter-in-place and curfew mandates and gone ahead with services during the outbreak. Several pastors who were so bold have died of the virus, along with some of their parishioners. I am more familiar with the United Methodist Church more than other denominations. I simply doubt UMC hierarchy would or could order a church re-opened.

What Georgia sports fan would care to crowd into a football stadium one of those scorching days of September to watch their favorite team play some creampuff squad from Texas or Arkansas? Would a credible chance of an upset against, say, Alabama make any difference? Not in this lifetime.

And what about this crazy talk of playing the college and pro football seasons without fans in the seats? That’s just about as dumb as an idea can get, although certainly there are some well-known coaches who would go for it. They are eager to see somebody hit somebody else, the coronavirus be danged.

This goes for any number of such gatherings. Imagine, say, a Willie Nelson concert in some antiquated auditorium in Atlanta with fans going gaga over the superstar – and there’s still a possibility of being infected by the fanatic next to them. Or Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and the throngs it always delivers, even if Irma Thomas were wailing away? No thanks.

This country has not yet developed a solid system of testing for the coronavirus. Until it does, the wife says we’re staying put. As the ancient hymn goes, I’ll trust and obey.