Colorado Businesses Must Stand Together

First they came for the live venues, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a live performer.

Then they came for the restaurants and bars, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a restaurant or bar employee.

Then they came for the brick and mortar retail stores, and I did not speak out—Because I didn’t work at a brick and mortar store.

They didn’t have to come for me, because my customers were unemployed and had no money to spend.

Colorado version of Martin Niemöller’s famous poetic prose.

German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous “First they came…” prose reminds us that an attack on the freedom of one person or group is an attack on the freedom of everyone.

Groups like the Colorado Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado Restaurant Association – far from taking a Constitutional stand against illegal and authoritarian demands of the government – are busy holding out their hands to beg for government charity. While they acknowledge that 25% of Colorado restaurants may have to permanently close within a month, their chosen course of action is to plead for handouts while continuing to allow our dear leaders to keep the boot on their necks.

This should come as no surprise, but Colorado restaurants don’t want charity. They want to be free from the arbitrary and uneven application of absolutely unjustifiable coronavirus restrictions being enforced around the state.

There is no possible reason why crowds intermingling all over Costco or Walmart are okay, but in-person dining with a group you already live with is not. There is no possible reason why a microscopic virus spreads easier while people are walking to their seats than it does once they sit down. The virus does not spread more easily after 8 pm. It does not respect a piece of fabric over someone’s face. The data proves shows that there is no corollary evidence that lockdowns, social restrictions, or masks have done anything at all to curb the spread of the virus.

It is not simply a matter of saying, “people are dying with this virus!” as a pretext for any and every government intrusion – our government must demonstrate that the damage they are doing has any appreciable effect on COVID-19 outcomes, not just a supposed effect on undefinably-severe case numbers. Not only have they not done this, the data they have provided tells exactly the opposite story. There is no evidence-based connection at all between their orders and changes in the supposed spread or severity of the novel coronavirus. Simply put, the virus goes where it goes, and there’s nothing an executive order can do about it. The government intervention is, as Dr. Roger Hodkinson said, “The greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public.”

The Colorado state government, through their unelected health department bureaucrats and their threats of stopping people from engaging in commerce, is abusing the goodwill of the citizenry to cover up the fact that they had neither the knowledge nor the right to commandeer this kind of power over our lives, and in doing so they ravaged a once-great economy and did severe and incalculable damage to the civil rights of Colorado citizens. They played on our fears, rightfully understanding that a deathly afraid public would demand that they do something. Rather than admit that they were not gods, couldn’t possibly know the true severity of the pandemic or needed response, couldn’t control the virus through government dictates and erred on the side of individual liberty, these technocrats created and maintained the illusion (through ridiculously opaque devices like the crazy COVID dial) that they were masters of the universe that had the ability, duty, and right to run your life for you. News flash: They don’t.

Which brings us back to Colorado business owners. Too many Colorado businesses and citizens do not make the connection between the economic damage being done to others and their own economic future. Too many businesses are remaining silent, hoping they will be destroyed last. These people will be the same ones who whine and complain when there’s nowhere to shop or eat next year, and the folks they supposedly saved from coronavirus have passed away anyway (by the way, that’s all of us). These businesses will be wondering why their customer base has fallen apart, why commercial property lies dormant. Worse, they will have been complicit in creating a business environment where they engage in commerce at the pleasure of the government, instead of as free people.

Colorado businesses need to stand alongside Colorado restaurants and demand a restoration to the freedoms of assembly, association, and commerce. The everlasting executive order is unconstitutional, written in violation of Colorado Revised Statutes, and is not the law of the land. The only reason that the state government continues to exercise authoritarian control is that the people have not risen up to stop it. And yes, the Masketeers and Branch Covidians who don’t care about freedom as long as they are convinced the smarter people in government will keep them from dying. Fortunately (and despite what you read on Twitter), this is not most Americans, nor most Coloradoans.

In this light, Mile High Evening News is encouraging business owners (particularly restaurants and retail outlets) to tell us who is ready to stand up for their neighbors and fellow business owners. If you are a business owner ready to fight back, please fill out the following form. Your information will be kept strictly confidential, and you may be contacted to confirm your identity to prevent infiltration or abuse.

Violating Americans’ Constitutional rights is evil, and evil prevails when good men and women do nothing. We must fight this.