During this unprecedented and troubling time where hardworking Texans are torn between their desire to work and their desire to remain safe from the coronavirus, Texas C4L is seeing many troubling signs of an unconstitutional overreaction and even blatant power grabs. We are all concerned about the pandemic and want to do what we can to save lives and protect our neighbors and families by taking responsible precautions. However, it appears the cure may be worse than the disease. Across Texas, we have seen the governor, county judges, and other officials create new laws to control our movements and behaviors which they have no right to do. The Texas legislature -- not the governor -- creates laws. This is settled law. Yet we see officials imposing penalties including as much as 6 months in jail for gathering to worship or even watching a sunset! Let's be clear -- the authorities have no constitutional legal authority to enforce these power grabs, but lawsuits already filed to stop this will take a long time to resolve. Unfortunately, that may be too late. We only have a short time to act and restore our economy and rights before more irreversable damage is done.
We are being told to get ready for a "new normal" that will last months or years. With fear comes control, and people wanting the government to save them have been scared into surrendering their lives to "experts" in Washington, D.C. and Austin. We know that individuals working together and taking personal responsibility for themselves and their families is the only way we can put a stop to the spread of the virus.
We need Governor Abbott to lift the statewide stay at home orders and get Texans back to work responsibly with reasonable precautions. Since this panic we have seen ridiculous actions by the governor, like closing off millions of acres of public property including state parks and forests where Texans could practice much more social distancing than they can anywhere else. The governor knows he doesn't have the authority to do much of what he has done, yet he still is delaying his plan to reopen Texas. Texans were willing to give the governor a reasonable amount of time to respond to the crisis, but it is now time to get us back to our lives and to restore our constitutional rights. Please join Texas C4L and our members in signing the petition below. Also, please contact Governor Abbott to tell him to end his unconstitutional violations of our rights and to open Texas back up for business.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott
(512) 463-2000
https://gov.texas.gov/apps/contact/opinion.aspx
Whereas: Texans under lock down and unable to work have the right to earn a living and provide for their families, and
Whereas: The coronavirus has not proven to be the doomsday disaster that was predicted, and
Whereas: Texans have the constitutional right to move freely, peacefully gather to worship, conduct business, and interact with others, and
Whereas: Only the Texas legislature can create new laws and define what a crime is, and
Whereas: Governor Abbott and local authorities have assumed powers they have not been granted,
Therefore, Be it resolved that we the undersigned demand the governor and county officials rescind their stay at home orders and immediately implement a plan to safely and orderly reopen Texas for business. We further demand a repeal of any unconstitutional executive order from the governor, county judges, or any other official that has wrongly limited or denied the rights of Texans.