What is happening to our country?!

What kind of country are we living in when a small business owner can be arrested for exercising the unalienable rights bestowed upon her by God and secured by our nation’s Founders?

How did we go from the country that defeated the Nazis and communist Russia to one that uses Gestapo tactics on its own citizens?!

If we were reading about this in some novel about a dystopian future where American citizens were being arrested for something as simple as going to work, we’d be appalled and thankful that it was just a work of fiction.

But this is the reality we’re in now, and there are very few people saying ANYTHING about this trampling of American rights. But this situation should be enough to get EVERY proud American to stand up and yell, “Enough is ENOUGH!”

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case…

And salon owner Shelley Luther is finding out exactly what it means to live under the jackboot of authoritarianism.

The American Gestapo

Shelley is the owner of Salon Á la Mode, a Dallas, Texas hair salon, and like many other business owners, she’s been losing income since the government shut down “nonessential businesses.” Eventually, she decided that she had enough of the draconian lockdown that had been imposed upon her and the rest of the citizens of her state, and she reopened her doors to the public, getting her employees back to work…and attracting the attention of local authorities.

Even after armed Texans came to her aid and stood guard at her front doors, the state STILL fought against her – and Judge Clay Jenkins issued a cease and desist order against Luther for her defiance of the lockdown ordinance.

However, despite the judicial warning, she CONTINUED to defy the unamerican order.

So, like most Americans that stand up tyranny, she was forced to pay the price.

She was arrested for defying the governor’s executive order, sentenced to 7 days in jail for contempt of court, and fined a whopping $7K.

And to make things worse, during the time when the sentence and fine were handed out, Texas Governor Greg Abbot announced that hair salons around the state could reopen as soon as Friday, May 8^th, saying, “Every owner of every salon should use their own best judgment when to reopen.”

But what is an out-of-work business owner supposed to do?

Starve?

Unfortunately, it’s not easy to get government assistance as a business owner – and with the speed at which Congress is moving in with getting more help out to Americans during this forced lockdown, it won’t get any easier.

Shelley Luther really had NO choice but to reopen. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

With the money she had left, she had to choose between paying the lease for her business or paying the mortgage for her house.

When A Hard Choice Is Made Simple

Just like MOST Americans currently unable to earn a paycheck, Shelley just wants the right to work and earn money. “I don’t want to cause any problems, but when you’re out of money, someone has to stand up and say that they’re not helping us by not letting us work,” Shelley said. “I’m behind on my mortgage. I know a lot of my stylists haven’t paid their mortgage. It’s either come in and make money to be able to feed your family or stay home and freak out.”

Well put, Shelley…

There ARE ways to reopen safely, and stopping Americans from doing so goes against EVERYTHING this country was founded on.

“Obviously I don’t want anyone to get sick and I don’t want the virus to spread. It will be one of the safer places for people to go rather than going to Wal-Mart or Home Depot.”

Right…

Good on you, Shelley. This situation is a burden on everyone and it’s frustrating to small business owners that could maintain a safe environment but aren’t allowed to while big businesses continue to operate as if nothing has changed.

This is what Americans are dealing with…

This is why we need to use our common sense and open safely. People WANT to work…

They NEED to work, and the governors of our states need to wake up to the real crisis here.

Wake up America!

Shelley Luther is just the first of what will surely be a LONG list of people that are willing to stand up for their American rights…

We all need to defy the spread of this new brand of tyranny for safety’s sake.

This is NOT who we are as a nation…

We’d do well to remember that.

“The good citizen will demand liberty for himself, and as a matter of pride he will see to it that others receive the liberty which he thus claims as his own. Probably the best test of true love of liberty in any country is the way in which minorities are treated in that country. Not only should there be complete liberty in matters of religion and opinion, but complete liberty for each man to lead his life as he desires, provided only that in so doing he does not wrong his neighbor.” – Theodore Roosevelt