On Labor Day, let’s salute those Americans who recognize the necessity of work, both to survive financially and to give meaning to their lives.
At one time, this would be just about every American.
The Americans I will be thinking about on Labor Day are those who are straining at the bit to get back to work and resume their lives, despite the unrealistic strictures put on them by too many blue state officials.
One such American is San Francisco hair stylist and small business owner Erica Kious. It was an independent stylist who worked Kious’ salon who recently gave the most famous shampoo in history. When security camera footage of a mask-less Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi receiving services at the salon went viral, instead of apologizing, the Speaker claimed she had been set up. (Don’t miss the Babylon Bee’s hilarious take on the great blow-dry set-up.)
Shampoogate is symptomatic of the great American class divide. When Kious asked the stylist to talk to Mrs. Pelosi about how the shutdown is destroying her livelihood and that of other business owners like herself, he replied that the Speaker had “more important things to think about” (more important than the welfare of working Americans–well that just about says it all, doesn’t it?), though he later claimed he had broached the touchy subject.
Meanwhile, instead of noticing Mrs. Pelosi’s lack of grace, her rich neighbors in San Francisco turned on the hairdresser:
The owner of the San Francisco hair salon where Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had scheduled an appointment despite citywide restrictions on such businesses said she has received death threats.
Salon owner Erica Kious told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday that the aftermath of the viral video led to her receiving “death threats.”
‘Since this happened, I’ve received nothing but hate, text messages, death threats. My Yelp page is just unbelievable with bad reviews,” she said. “It’s sad that my community is pulling this … saying that I threw her under the bus when I didn’t.’
When asked whether Kious would remain in the city following the pandemic that caused her business to shutter for six months, she said, “I think I’m pretty much done now.”
Kious said she felt Pelosi had been hypocritical because if she was “comfortably” walking around the salon without a mask, “then why are we shut down?”
She added that the inability to service clients amid San Francisco’s strict COVID-19 measures has dramatically affected her ability to maintain staff and keep her doors open.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Yelp data reveals more than 2,000 local businesses closed permanently during the pandemic.
If, as appears almost certain, Kious leaked the video, you can hardly blame her: somebody needed to make a point about the capricious nature of rules that are killing the livelihoods of small business owners and their employees. This includes hairdressers, restaurant workers, gym owners and others who ask only for the opportunity to work to support their families.
The pandemic isn’t the only thing that has laid bare the chasm between those who value small businesses and those who work for such businesses, and those who don’t. Rioters have destroyed the small businesses of struggling Americans from coast to coast.
This Labor Day I will say a prayer for the millions of Americans who want nothing more than to engage in honest labor.