Which is why they vote Republican. Most businesses are not owned by billionaires. They are owned by middle to upper middle class people with families trying to make a living on their own. People also choose to be independent contractors because in normal times they make more money and have more freedom that way. Look at the disaster California's anti-Uber law has caused. It has cost thousands of jobs and driven small theaters, publishers and agencies out of business.

As you say, the choice is not binary. It's not work or die. We can gradually loosen the restraints, particularly in areas where the population density is not NYC - Detroit levels. Which is why the Governor of Michigan is an idiot. Sure her state currently has the highest mortality rate in the country (my state is second). Those deaths are concentrated in and around Detroit. What about the rest of the state? Why should rural areas have the same degree of restriction?

Better government is a pipe dream. We need answers that will work now.