Americans want to get to work

Last Friday a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would provide a monthly government check of $2,000 a month to those struggling to make ends meet during the current COVID-19 pandemic. A married couple would receive $4,000 a month as well as $2,000 a month for each child up to three children. The income threshold would be $120,000 per individual and be retroactive to March.
The socialist agenda is alive and well in the United States of America. It is not surprising that the bill is sponsored by Mr. Socialist himself, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. These three must believe that there is no end to the money in the debt-ridden U.S. Treasury. No cost estimate was included in this bill as the sky seems to be the limit.
The initial CARES bill providing financial aid to individuals and businesses cost $1.8 trillion and the $1,200 individual payments were deemed insufficient by the above bill’s sponsors. We don’t believe that paying more people who are not working is the answer to getting us out of the current mess we find ourselves in.
Americans are beginning to get fed up with state government stay-at-home orders and want to get back to the business of working to feed their families and paying their bills. It is becoming more and more obvious each and every day that wherever and whenever possible, we need to get back to the business of working once again in our nation. This is a classic case of the cure being worse than the disease.
Consider what happened to Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther who woke up one morning and decided feeding her family and providing employment for her 18 stylists was more important than adhering to an executive (Texas Gov. Greg Abbott) shutdown order for her business. Luther was arrested for violating this order and given three choices by a judge. She could apologize for her selfishness, pay a fine and shut down until last Friday, or serve jail time.
Luther said she would not apologize for going to work to feed her family and for her 18 employees being able to feed their families. She disagreed with the judge for calling her selfish, ‘when you say I’m selfish because feeding my kids is not selfish” and that she had hair stylists who “were going hungry because they would rather feed their kids.” Luther told the judge that if he thought the law is more important than kids getting fed, “then please go ahead with your decision” because she was not shutting her salon down.
Judge Eric Moye, apparently lacking any compassion or common sense, sent her to jail for seven days and fined her $7,000. It took Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to call for her release last Wednesday, saying the judge had abused his discretion. Last Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court ordered her release from jail and Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order retroactively eliminating jail time as a consequence for violating the state’s coronavirus restrictions.
This is just one example of the craziness that is going on in our country at this time. In Los Angeles, the city council voted to name hotels that refused to take in homeless people due to the virus and the Providence, R.I., mayor said people not wearing masks should be “socially shamed.” Rhode Island Democrat Gov. Gina Raimondo penned an executive order making the wearing of masks in her state mandatory.
There are virus hot spots in our country that need to be isolated until the number of cases drops significantly. But South Dakota, especially Western South Dakota, is not New York or New York City. It will be up to the individual state governors to decide when and how their states will be opened up, and we expect this to be gradual.
We urge our governor to get state employees back to work and open up Custer State Park. Our visitors are here and they don’t need to encounter locked-up visitor centers and restrooms. Let’s get our city and state back up and running as soon as possible. People want to work.

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