I am sending this out to a broad scope of Family, Friends, Associates, Elected Officials, etc – in order to better understand what happened over the past five to ten years. I do not mean to sound negative, or alarmed, but I want people to wake up to reality, to better understand the effects of bad public policies, and what and how they affect people.
I sat down and talked to my dad a few nights ago. Everyone who knows my family knows that my dad, Gary Zitterich started our family automotive shop more than forty years ago, he had built his name, tradition, business on common sense morals, values, and responsibility to provide the residents of the Sioux Empire quality service in the automotive repair business.
In 1979, I was only 6 years old, I was in kindergarten, attending Humboldt School, taking a bus roughly 10 miles a day to and from the schoolhouse, this was also the year my father started his repair facility in our home garage, I remember cars lined up in our driveway, we lived in the country, not far from where the city landfill is today. We lived with another small business owner, Ron Anderson Construction, we were neighbors, two small businesses side by side, working from our homes. That is the American Dream…is it not?
Not to forget, from 1983 to 1990, my mother, Vicky Foster helped the community out of our home later on, by providing Community Daycare Services, she was great at what she did, she not only provided basic daycare services, she also spent time teaching the kids math, writing, reading, the basics of education, mostly to help instill in them, basic learning tools. “WE” had maybe 15 kids in our home as I was growing up, I can remember infants, young kids, teenagers all in our home. I was taught early on how to change a diaper, let alone become a role model for young kids at this time in my life (ages 10-15). I remember young Casey, Sarah, Jessica, Justin, April, Robbie, Jaime, Brent, Zach, and there were more….My mom operated a home daycare for maybe 5-7 years into 1989 or 1990 – about that time, the CITY chose to over regulate home daycares, this effectively killed this home occupation, families who wanted to be role models, neighborhood daycare to help the community…this was the first sign of things to come.
Meanwhile, my dad foretells the story, of a time (1979 to 1994) – of a time where gas cost $0.89 a gallon, a repairs shop could charge $45 per hour, his customer base was growing fast, allowing him to expand from a small 2 stall home garage, to a 5 stall shop in North Sioux Falls in 1983. He was busy, only had to work 4 days a week, go racing on weekends.
Over time, thereafter beginning in the mid 90’s inflation began to go up, new laws were adopted, regulations placed on businesses, some good, most were bad, perhaps with good intentions, but folks, PUBLIC laws of which impose restrictions on business, are not good for anyone…
Today, My dad says, prior to retiring, leaving the business to us kids, he was working 7 days a week, in a garage that costs $3,000 monthly rent, it was becoming tougher and tougher to find quality help, as in mechanics outside the family. As a small business, YOUR NAME is all you got, your reputation, your legacy, your labor. It is tough to find good help, people who think like you, act like you, are willing to do as you do…my dad struggled to find 2 mechanics, ‘we’ needed at least 3 mechanics to easily pay the bills. It was my dad and my brother as mechanics, and my job was to work with customers, bookkeeping, accounting, payroll, advertising, sales. My dad ended up retiring, due to the fun part of his job being gone…he was also 70 years old, he wanted to go camping, relax, get out of the business.
In 2016, I decided to get my Dealer License, to branch out on my own a little, in the beginning, it was fun, I found a need for cheap cars, to help the single mother who had 3 kids, I had a spot in my heart to help people, especially those single mothers with three kids – why, perhaps it was related to my childhood, where my mom had instilled in me to help people…
As you know, nearly 60% of the people I helped were living on restricted incomes, they could only afford to spend $1000 dollars, maybe if they were lucky, $2,000 dollars. I could help them, I could find them cars where I could pay $700 to $1,000 dollars. It was never about the money to me, I wanted to see happy faces, Iwould sell them for a mere $300-500 profit margin. I would also sit down with them, make a plan to fix minor issues, help them spend their money as they could, to maintain, fix, repair the cars back to their everyday “Retail Prices” – my thoughts were, they then had a car they could effectively sell for the retail just as i could, this helped the economy, by putting money in people’s pockets, if the plan worked, I had a customer for life.
All was good, until the so-called COVID-19 Pandemic hit, I was not a believer in the related public matter, I felt it was over exaggerated, let alone, we were over reacting…
As I sit back and think about it today, I reflect on the period between January 2020 to December 2021:
DO NOT FORGET – our Leftist Politicians imposed COVID-19 Policies on Businesses. Leading to Many Small Businesses to restrict their customer bases, forcing them to seat them every 10 feet apart, to closing their doors to the public, to forcing their Customer base to places like AMAZON, WALMART, HOME DEPOT and redirected customers from places like Lewis Drugs, Robson Hardware, Tomacelli Pizza or Fryn’ Pan …
Nationwide, our Congress, State Legislatures, City Councils ALL VOTED to impose $500 to $2,000 dollar Fines nationwide to restrict businesses to such rules, not being afraid to force them to pay the fine, or close their doors.
The HEALTH NAZI’S came into our Businesses, to make sure we followed the rules for 1 year, effectively harming the economy.
The GOVT attempted to FORCE you to wear a MASK, effectively making it tough to breath, causing other related health issues, to other personal health defects, did the masks work? NO, they led to other health concerns. Did the SHOTS work? No, they led to other pressing health concerns that we are now dealing with today.
I can name a list of State Legislators, and City Council Members who all voted for the so-called COVID RESTRICTIONS, but I will not name names, cause all that does is DIVIDE people politically.
I am merely, wanting to REMIND PEOPLE of the effects of a Government Policy or policies that harm SMALL BUSINESS. I am upset, because I am, or was a small business owner, who is now struggling to pay my bills, these laws, these restrictions, that led to killing half my customer base, made it difficult to survive, let alone today, NO ONE is making enough money to survive.
WE GOT TO LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES FAST PEOPLE….DO YOU want an aggressive Government, or a government that stays out of your lives…
Today, we have 10% Inflation, High Gas Prices, We wait for 10 days or more for Supplies, Inventory, Food, etc…
The only people making money are Government Officials, Officers, Employees, Multi-National Corporations, Lawyers, etc.
Since when have we become a country where that PUBLIC SECTOR can “TAX US TO DEATH” enslaving the private citizens to debts, high taxes, etc, only for those PUBLIC CITIZENS to get rich today, let alone game from the system of public taxes, subsidies, benefits paid by, well, private citizens.
Please, do not take my words as hate, nor disrespectful, I am only reflecting on bad policy, laws, adopted in the past. We could go back farther, we have nearly 150 years of adopting laws of which we can cite that harmed the free enterprise system itself.
We may not always agree, but where we must often agree, is that America was established to become a free nation of people who could go about their daily lives unrestricted by problematic and over-reach of a tyrannical government.
We established the “Free Republic of Free States” in order to self govern ourselves, freely, to allow for all Americans to barter, sell, transact their labor freely without the fear of paying high taxes, fees, let alone of being over regulated. Since 1871, as a country, as a state, we have imposed some of the most harsh man made public laws imaginable that have stolen the wealth, the freedom, and the liberty of Americans to achieve their dreams.
We are a country of ‘free people’ of which live our lives by means of Natural Laws of doing what we have to in order to survive, we adopted Common Sense common law civil codes in order to protect our public health, safety, and welfare, thus protecting ourselves, from well, ourselves, our errors, mistakes, fraud, etc.
We adopted Constitutions to restrict “government” in our private lives, business, etc, while at the same time, we adopted “public laws” of which restrict that government even more, instructing public officials, officers, employees from interfering in our private lives, activities, etc.
What is a Statute or Ordinance aka Public Law?
Public Laws “govern over” the Public Domain as it relates to the following persons:
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Governors,
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Attorney General,
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Secretary of State
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State Auditor
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Secretary of the Department of Revenue,
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Other Elected or Appointed Public Officials, Officers, Agents,
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Agents of the Government,
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Public School Officials, Officers, Teachers, Employees,
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Local Government Officials, Officers, Agents, Corporate Partners, Employees
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Local Mayors, City Councils, Other Appointed or Elected Officials/Officers.
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Public Contractors of the Government(s), Agents, Partners, Non-Profit Offices,
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Public Employees of the Federal, State, and Local Government(s),
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Commercial Business Person(s), of whom become Licensed or Permitted to Provide Services to the People,
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Private Citizens of whom Accept Public Taxes, Credits, Benefits, Subsidies, to Other Grants, Monetary Funds.
Public Statute’s are adopted to “govern” over those Federal, State, or Local Public Persons, Entities, Organizations. The job of a “Statute or Ordinance” is to restrict, or control the Public Office, not a private citizen or person outside that jurisdiction.
You have to study, research, learn, and understand which “Jurisdiction” you wish to place yourself in, because it has lasting effects on your ability to be free, to be sovereign, to enjoy the fruits of your labor, let alone to be separated from government.
Now, I am NOT telling anyone to partake in anything illegal, let alone justifying bad behavior, I want people to wake up, and understand the difference between the two Jurisdictions… Public v Private
Those Public Persons (officials, officers, agents, employees, contractors, organizations, businesses) work together to provide for Public Places, Buildings, Institutions, Schools, Roads, Infrastructure, Utilities, Water and Sewer Systems, Parks, etc, of which privately we may or may not choose to use ourselves as we go about our private lives, activities, provide back to each other our labor.
As a small business minded person myself, I understand what contracts me to the public domain, by obtaining a license, I agree to “collect” the sales tax from my customer base, I agree to specific fees to government entities in order help pay for, the roads, infrastructure, public services of my trade, however, I also understand where such taxes or fees or regulations DO NOT apply to.
As we found out, Public Policies affect people, in ways we may not intended – the COVID POLICIES are a great example. Because I am a public person, using my “trade name” to buy, sell, used vehicles, let alone my family is publically contracted to provide automotive repairs to the general public, we are licensed to collect public taxes on the activity, let alone, we are then permitted to do such things in commerce, let alone, under COVID-19 – we were being told to restrict our customer base, to force our customers to wear masks, to space themselves accordingly, and if we DID NOT, and it was discovered that someone made a report, or got sick, ‘we’ were publicly shamed, fines were imposed on us, let alone shutdown.
I am fortunate, I have witnessed the good and bad side of public policy, I have seen and witnessed first hand the effects of that bad policy, and what it can do to a small business, and I fear that we may never learn our lesson.
Our public policy has led to high inflation, public debts, high cost of operating a government, let alone the expansion of that government has led to over regulating the people, both in public and in private..
Remember, in order to utilize a public road, one has to obtain a driver license, give up ownership of their automobile to the state, of which provides back to us a certificate of title, giving us the privileged use of that property on across the state, all of which forces us to plate the vehicle using a specific state owned plate, to pay annual registration fees, which are kept in the rear, let alone abide by the financial obligations placed on that vehicle such as Liens, Insurance, and Other Expenses.
In private, we do not need a driver license, or insurance, or a state issued plate to drive on “private roads” …
In private, we do not need a license to barter one’s labor or pay for a service or product within private property…
In private, we can do whatever we wish to so long as we do not violate another’s rights, let alone harm another person or their property, or trespass…
In private, one does not need a dealer license to transfer private vehicles up to 5 per year…
In private, I am not so sure there is any such law that says you cannot smoke marijuana, except for where that drug affects you in the public domain, etc…
In America today, where do the BOUNDARIES lie, how do we know where and where not we cross over from private to public?
Our Public Policies today are leading Americans to gravitate to Social Media to shame others, to slander others, to defame others, to attack others, and we have to be careful, those actions can lead to further negative consequences in life.
Why would someone like myself, want to be Self Employed today, as a small business person, if we are over regulated, controlled, shamed, or politically attacked under bad policy?
I am seeing not only myself struggle, but my family, friends, other businesses such as Restaurants, Small Repair Shops, Daycares, Barber Shops, Other Dealerships, etc…
We need policies that deter people from spending money @ Multi-National Corporations like Amazon, Walmart, McDonalds, Home Depot, and policies that encourage people to spend money with Lewis Drugs, Sunshine, Tomacellis, Fryn’ Pan, Robson Hardware, local Barber Shops, Home Daycare…
Your Small Business Community, and I am relating my comments to the smallest of all entities, the solo operator, the home business, the one man shop, people of that nature, for they alone are more vested in our community, than those large multinational corporations.
IF we are going to talk about ‘ ‘taxes and regulations” then those taxes and regulations must favor the small business owner, NOT some large Global or Multi-National Corporation …
Our Local Economy Depends on how good or bad our public policies are adopted, and it is up to our Elected and Appointed Public Officials, Officers, Agents, Contractors to do their job well…
I am upset, I see my family, friends, co-workers, business associates ALL struggling, and I do not see the government making positive public policies in our favor…
These are my own words, thoughts, opinions, If you agree, please share with all your friends, family, co-workers, and let’s begin the process of adopting better policy, more positive policy, in order to manage our daily lives.
Sincerely,
Mike Zitterich
Sioux Falls, SD
[email protected]
www.siouxfallscommunitychronicle.com
