The idiots who are marching on state capitals demanding that governors relax their restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic are missing an essential element.

They decry the restrictions, saying that stay at home, shelter in place and social distancing requirements represent a government overreach into their personal liberties.

Hold the fu**ing phone, folks!

These morons can hide for as long as they want hide behind the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights and proclaim their right to do as they wish. Fine. If they want to put themselves in danger and jeopardize their own health and well-being, then have at it.

However, the Bill of Rights does not grant anyone the right to put others’ health in peril. It does not allow anyone to expose other human beings to deadly viral infections. Just as the First Amendment grants us the right of free speech, it does not — as has been noted since the beginning of our republic — allow someone to yell “fire!” in a crowded theater.

Thus, when protesters march on state capitals, which they have done here in Texas, and proclaim that governors are restricting their rights, they miss the essential need for government to protect the well-being of all the people it serves.

And yet we hear from Donald J. Trump and others at the top of the governmental chain of command heap misguided and misdirected praise on the protesters, cheering them on. Trump, of course, doesn’t understand government’s role in protecting the people he was elected to serve. His primary focus has been all along on his own political future.

Therefore, if the protests suit his needs and call attention to the issues he is raising — which focus far more on the economy than on the science associated with the restrictions — why, that suits him just fine.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are seeing stupidity on full display. What’s worse is that the intellectual failure of the protesters is putting others in jeopardy. That, in my view, is a criminal act.