During these troubling times where hardworking Texans are torn between their desire to be free and their desire to remain safe, Texas C4L is seeing many troubling signs of unconstitutional power grabs going unchecked by Governor Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and some County Judges. 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 politicians 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 and threatening fines and jail for not following their illegal madates! Let's be clear -- the authorities have no constitutional legal authority to enforce these power grabs.
Many members of the Texas House of Representatives' Freedom Caucus have publicly called for an end to Abbott's unlawful restrictions and to call a special session where our elected officials can craft a response with proper input from the public. Yet Governor Abbott continues to issue orders he knows are unconstitutional, from mandating masks to picking and choosing which businesses can exist. We have also seen ridiculous, unscientific regulations crop up such as closing bars unless they serve food and pay the Texas Government a fee for changing their license! The governor knows he can't fine individuals for not wearing masks, so he has decided to make Texas business owners the mask police and says he will fine them if they allow anyone to enter their business without a mask! Not only does this put an undue burden on already suffering Texas businesses but he expects a retailer to know and understand several medical conditions and who may or may not be exempt from having to wear a mask.
At a press conference last week with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and outgoing disgraced Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen, Governor Abbott declared new restrictions and some expansions of allowable business under his new decree. Once again, he is waving his magic wand with no authority to do so. The governor has failed to call a special session to create new laws or suspend current ones as the Texas Constitution would require him to do. He simply does not want our duly elected legislators to have a say in our response to the pandemic.
One of the most shocking insights of the entire press conference was lieutenant Governor Patrick's expression of a fondness for people who have been tested and received negative testing results to wear arm bands that show their negative test results so others in public around them can feel better about being near them! This public branding of a person's medical history is a slap in the face to everyone that cares about privacy and human rights. We shouldn't be branded like cattle!
With fear comes control, and some 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. Texas' covid hospitalizations, infection rate, and deaths have been declining over several weeks, and new treatments are proving to save lives of the small percentage of Texans at risk of having serious complications. New revelations show that our "second wave" actually wasn't a wave at all but mismanaged reporting that over-inflated the actual infections. Governor Abbott had to admit the data was wrong and has announced a new reporting method because of these mistakes and overstatements. Some counties have refused to impose unreasonable restrictions and mask mandates and yet their Covid stats continue to improve as well. Let's follow the science and get back to normal.
We need Governor Abbott to lift the statewide covid restrictions, mask mandates, and throttling back businesses that have a right to survive. Failing that, the governor needs to honor the Constitution and the direction of legislators to call a special session to lawfully address the problems. Let's get Texans back to work responsibly with reasonable, voluntary precautions. Texans were willing to give the governor a reasonable amount of time to respond to the crisis responsibly, but it is now time to get us back to our lives and to restore our constitutional rights. Please join Texas C4L and other Texans 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 fully without unconstitutional restrictions and mandates.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott
(512) 463-2000
https://gov.texas.gov/apps/contact/opinion.aspx
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