Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he would rather risk his life and face coronavirus than destroy the economy for his grandchildren

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stirred the debate against the lockdown measures to fight coronavirus when he said that the damage to the economy is just too much and that he is personally willing to take his chances.

Patrick made his argument to Tucker Carlson on Carlson's Fox News show on Monday.

"You know, Tucker, no one reached out to me and said, as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?" Patrick argued.

"And if that's the exchange, I'm all in. And that doesn't make me noble or brave or anything like that," he added.

"I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me — I have six grandchildren — that what we all care about and what we love more than anything are those children," he explained, "and I want to live smart and see through this, but I don't want the whole country to be sacrificed."

Patrick said that he talked to hundreds of people about the subject and that nearly all of them said "pretty much the same thing" as he was proposing.

"We can't lose our whole country; we're having an economic collapse!" he continued.

"My message is that let's get back to work. Let's get back to living," Patrick concluded. "Let's be smart about it, and those of us who are 70-plus, we'll take care of ourselves, but don't sacrifice the country. Don't do that!"

"Dan Patrick" was the top nationally trending topic after the segment.

Carlson also had a health official give the counter-argument before Patrick. He argued that it is worth damaging the economy in order to prevent more coronavirus deaths and to avoid overtaxing the medical system.

Here's the video of Patrick's modest proposal:

Tucker Carlson Tonight | March 23, 2020 | Lt Gov Dan Patrickwww.youtube.com