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The Chamber of Commerce wishes everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day this Thursday. On that festive day, we are having our BCN Breakfast at Central Park at 7:30 a.m. Please join us for good food, networking, and an informative presentation by Reyna Ventura of ProSe Legal. If you’ve been thinking of starting your own business, the Small Business Development Center will be hosting a free seminar on how to write a winning business plan at the Chamber office on March 22 at 9:00 a.m. Lastly, don’t forget to register for our Spring Swing Annual Golf Tournament on April 18. Early bird pricing ends today!
The past two years of the pandemic along with war in Ukraine, global unrest, and inflation have tested us greatly. Yet despite these challenges, we should be eternally grateful to be American. We have freedom and prosperity due to the wise decisions and sacrifices made by prior generations of Americans. We often forget that the default position of government throughout the course of world history has been authoritarian regimes and totalitarian rule. A government by the people, for the people, is the exception, not the norm. We should not assume that freedom and liberty will continue in our Country if we do nothing to protect it. We cannot let fear and anger trump gratitude and respect.
The great American experiment has been a catalyst for individual liberty, economic freedom, and the most impactful creation of wealth the world has ever seen. My father immigrated from Germany, and my mother from Costa Rica. Both were looking for a new start, a second chance to build a life that could not be achieved elsewhere. Like so many immigrants, America became home, and it deserves our admiration for being a welcoming place to come to, not run from. Whether you came to America yesterday or many generations ago, you have been bestowed the great American opportunity of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Cherish it!
The stark reality is that if we do not preserve our Republic, there are no more second chances, no other land of the free, nowhere else to immigrate to. This is it. America is the last best hope for freedom. If civil liberties are lost here, then they are gone forever. It is incumbent upon all of us to champion the cause of freedom, preserve our Constitutional Republic, and teach the next generation that what we have is special, fragile, and worth fighting for.
To advance the cause of freedom, I suggest three simple changes for California. First, repeal AB5 and allow people to work as independent contractors. This law went into effect on January 1, 2020 and has been an unmitigated disaster. It took away people’s right to work independently and crushed the ability to create new businesses or work second jobs. When government limits options to work, we get less work, less workers, less productivity, less income and, in the end, less freedom because people are deprived of opportunities to earn money and better themselves. On the flip side, when people work, they generate wealth, contribute to society, have options, less dependent on government, all of which leads to a freer and more prosperous Country. Liberty grows where free enterprise exists.
Second, suspend California’s Environmental Quality Act (also known as CEQA) as it pertains to new home construction for three years so that homes get built fast and now. This would help ease the housing shortage, create well-paying construction jobs, increase home ownership, and improve communities. Your local real estate agent would be happy to explain the numerous economic benefits of home ownership. Meanwhile, the suspension of CEQA will not hurt the environment as there are still a litany of construction standards to follow and municipal permits to obtain. CEQA is antiquated, slow, expensive, litigious, and is used as a weapon to thwart any meaningful development with no credible environmental benefit. After all, certain stadiums and other politically favored projects have been built in California without CEQA review.
Third, respect peoples’ personal autonomy by rejecting the following three bills proposed in the California Legislature. AB1993 would require all employees to show proof of Covid-19 vaccine to work in California. Sacramento did not get the memo that this failed at the federal level. Nor do they seem to care that this will burden employers and drive employees out of the workforce at a time when we already have a labor shortage. AB2098 would subject doctors to losing their license if they share a medical opinion that the State does not like. This means your doctor cannot practice medicine if he/she renders an opinion contrary to the Governor. Once doctors are muzzled, who’s next? SB1464 would require law enforcement to enforce all orders issued by a public health officer. This is particularly puzzling since California has decriminalized most everything but is now going to force police to arrest people who choose not to listen to an unelected bureaucrat tell them what to do, where to go, and how to live. Police enforcing public health orders is a dangerous precedent we should not set.
The danger of all three of these proposed bills is that it takes away liberty and replaces it authoritarian/totalitarian diktat. If any of the three bills pass, then there would be no limits as to what the State can force you to do, meaning your personal freedoms vanish and there is nowhere else to run to. The future of the great American experiment depends on you. Voice your opinion before its too late.
If the Chamber can be of any assistance, please contact me at Chairman@ranchochamber.org. Sincerely, your Chamber President, Robert A. Hufnagel.
Robert A. Hufnagel
President-Chair
Rancho Chamber
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