GOP Rep. Mast on Reopening Economy: ‘The Government Cannot and Should Not Manage the Risk of the Individual’

As the conversation has shifted to reopening the economy in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, Florida appears to be leading the way in some aspects, including having opened some of its beaches on Friday.

Representative Brian Mast (R-FL) told FNC’s “Fox & Friends” on Saturday there has to be a human element to assessing whether or not conditions are safe enough for certain activities.

“You know we look at beaches opening up here in Florida,” Mast said. “And you look at analyzing the situation. The government cannot and should not manage the risk of the individual. We’ve got to do that for ourselves. You know whether we are safe. Your doctor says don’t eat bacon, don’t smoke, don’t drink, run more. You’ve got to decide that for yourself. The government can’t tell us.”

Mast also dismissed accusations that President Donald Trump is ginning up the public’s so-called “defiance” against the stay-at-home orders.

“He is not fomenting defiance,” he added. “He is asking for adherence to what is the highest law of the land, you know, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, going out there and acknowledging that there is one thing that unites all of us as Americans. And that’s the rules by which we live by that were put in place long before any of us that will be in place long after any of us. And we have to adhere to that above all and not infringe on people’s individual rights.”

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