(7/1) Benjamin Franklin was asked in 1787, "what do we have Mr. Franklin, a Republic or a king?" He responded, "A Republic, if you can keep it."

We took the pandemic seriously and obeyed the lock down, the suspensions of our freedoms and the infringements of our rights. Our Secretary of Health came out with dire warnings, telling us how bad it was going to be.

Thank God it didn’t turn out that way, but the only thing they did get right was that the elderly would be the most vulnerable. And who did they infect… the elderly.

Why did our Secretary of Health unleash COVID-19 positive people – according to their March 18th memo – into eldercare facilities?

As a result of this medical incompetence, two-thirds of our state's deaths and cases are based in those facilities overseen by our failed Secretary of Health. This was compounded by a morbid version of insider trading and elitism when Dr. Rachel Levine's mom was secretly pulled out of a healthcare facility and place in a private suite.

Apparently, our loved ones do not warrant the same special treatment and protection as Levine's.

As I called for several weeks ago, and still maintain, Secretary Levine needs to go due to astonishing incompetence, which has led to the deaths of thousands of our loved ones.

For the general population of our state, the virus proved not to be as catastrophic as the prognostications predicted.

There's a 99% recovery rate and using the inaccurate, unscientific and exaggerated numbers from our Secretary of Health, the virus has impacted less than 0.38% of our population.

We’re no longer in a lockdown because of COVID-19, but because of the Governor’s edicts, and his fondness of hitherto unknown political power. We have a Governor operating with disregard for the constitution. What happened to checks and balances that are part of a constitutional Republic?

I served 30 years in uniform for the United States and never dreamed there would come a day that our very basic constitutional rights would be at stake. I never anticipated that we would have our rights trampled on as much as we have during these last two months.

It’s time to walk as free people – we cast away the fear and doubt, as well as the culture of death against the unborn and our elderly that our Governor and Secretary are keeping over us. We oppose.

When I look at our citizens, I see great Americans who do not stand aside in the face of this constitutional crisis.

Many of you are reasserting your rights to assemble, and your right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Benjamin Franklin said in the dark days of the Revolution that "if we don’t hang together, we’ll surely hang separately."

We’ve got to hang together and remind Governor Wolf that he derives power from the consent of the people. We no longer consent to his abuse of power and tramping of our rights with his ridiculous color codes and unconstitutional edicts.

Ronald Reagan warned us in 1961, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

If we are a free people, then let us live and walk as free people.

Now it's is our turn to keep the Republic.

Senator Mastriano represents the 33rd District in the Pennsylvania Senate. The District includes Adams County and parts of Franklin, Cumberland and York counties.