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The Vaccine Mandate Assault on the Common Good
Townhall.com ^ | September 10, 2021 | Josh Hammer

Posted on 09/10/2021 4:37:06 AM PDT by Kaslin

As resident Joe Biden launches via executive order a sweeping vaccine mandate for all federal government workers, and now a brand-new initiative for private sector mandates, the issue has once again risen to the forefront of the national dialogue. United Airlines, for example, recently became the first U.S. airline to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for all its employees. United Airlines' mandate takes effect on Sept. 27, and it might augur a broader trend: A poll conducted last month by insurance and advisory firm Willis Towers Watson, for example, suggests that 52% of private sector employers surveyed expect to have a workplace vaccine mandate by the end of 2021. As Biden's brand-new announcement of a Department of Labor rule for private sector vaccination requirement now makes clear, that poll was prescient.

Against this backdrop, several Republican-leaning states have advanced laws or executive orders that prohibit private sector vaccine mandates for employees, customers or in some other respect. That tally is now at least eight states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Texas, South Carolina and South Dakota. The legal mechanics and specifics differ from state to state. But the highest-profile and most mechanically straightforward Republican-led assault on vaccine mandates is the one in my new home state, Florida.

In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has emerged as a talismanic figure of sorts for those standing athwart COVID-induced hysteria, signed into law SB 2006. The legislation bans private businesses, local governments and schools from issuing vaccine mandates for customers or members of the public. On Aug. 27, Florida's Department of Health announced that it will enforce SB 2006 via $5,000 fines "per individual and separate violation." That rule will go into effect on Sept. 16, though DeSantis had previously already taken aim at mandatory private sector vaccinations via executive order even prior to the passage of SB 2006.

Amid the pending Biden Department of Labor vaccination rule for all employers with 100 or more employees, there will now inevitably be mass litigation between the states and the federal government. But while that litigation begins to percolate, the battle lines were already clarified.

Progressives, whose various echo chambers have led them to believe COVID is a modern-day apocalypse despite a 98 to 99% (at least) survival rate, predictably march in lockstep against bans on vaccine mandates. It is perhaps the only time progressives defend private enterprise against public regulation, broadly speaking. But those on the right have divided over the question of what role, if any, the state should play in regulating private sector vaccine mandate promulgation and enforcement.

The private sector vaccine mandate, much like the roiling debates over Big Tech regulation, is a proxy for a broader intellectual fault line on the right. That divide is between the more adamantly classical liberal, libertarian-inspired pundits and politicians who believe the quintessence of sound governance is simply permitting individuals and private entities to do what they wish, and the more common-good-inspired figures who believe the breadth and depth of the threat from our wokeist ruling class is such that we must be less skittish about the prudential use of state power to secure the deplorables' basic way of life.

On this matter, as in many other matters, the DeSantis-style common-good conservatives have the better of the doctrinaire "let businesses do whatever they want" libertarian absolutists. It is important to understand why.

President Ronald Reagan once said, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'" That was probably true when the Gipper said it, but times have changed. The new, 21st century threat comes in the form of a sprawling, paninstitutional ruling class whose public and private sector branches alike worship at the secular altar of wokeism. That ruling class has no interest in abiding by any sort of neutral "live and let live" niceties; its interest is in banning conservative speech from social media, soft-banning conservative ideas from the academy by means of "microaggressions" and "safe spaces," and so on. As I have argued, we should think of the new "most terrifying words" as, "I'm from the ruling class, and I'm here to subjugate you."

Vaccine mandates will be a convenient fig leaf for a ruling class already gung-ho at the possibility of precluding conservatives from the full panoply of in-person public life: air travel, concerts or even private banking services. Accordingly, the governing imperative is to use state power to protect those who may harbor not-unreasonable reservations about the COVID vaccines against woke capital and woke businesses champing at the bit to forsake those who have made a different decision about what to do with their bodies than what our elites may wish. Dispensations will always be made, but the default legal rule should be a general ban on private sector vaccine mandates. Those still very concerned about COVID, after all, can always vaccinate themselves: The vaccines presumably work well, as we are constantly told.

It is the obligation of patriots in 2021, to quote Claremont Institute Senior Fellow David Reaboi, to "know what time it is." On vaccine mandates, that means following the DeSantis lead, and, as now appears to be necessary, launching strategic state-led lawsuits against an overzealous Biden administration dead-set on making COVID hysteria the law of the land.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: coronavirus; covid19; govoverreach; vaccinemandate; wuhancoronavirus

1 posted on 09/10/2021 4:37:06 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

What percentage of total jobs are small business, less than 100 employees? Is there a labor shortage among those smaller companies? That labor shortage among small businesses shouldn’t last now. I saw the USPS had lots of openings as well.


2 posted on 09/10/2021 4:51:42 AM PDT by hardspunned (former GOP globalist stooge)
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To: hardspunned

You can’t throw a stone in my part of Florida without hitting a restaurant in need of a cook. Small businesses are really hurting right now despite the number of eligible people to work those jobs.


3 posted on 09/10/2021 4:59:25 AM PDT by rarestia (Repeal the 17th Amendment and ratify Article the First to give the power back to the people!)
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To: hardspunned

I work in Mass for a small business (non conglomerate car dealership) and weve been very relaxed COVID wise. Obviously we follow protocol but not nazi level of adherence some would prefer to mandate upon folks. I cant imagine the owner wants any part of this vaccine mandate. Lots of places are already looking towards revenue dropping because of the winter. Places that have 120-30 employees will look hard at cutting jobs to get under the cap and cut costs going into off seasons. Brilliant right?

More unemployed does not seem to be concern of the POTUS. Not to mention the many who will voluntarily quit because the govt is telling them to take it or else.

Its all part of the plan to keep Americans struggling democrats love crisis. Even the ones of their own creation.


4 posted on 09/10/2021 5:02:30 AM PDT by MrRelevant
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To: Kaslin

5 posted on 09/10/2021 5:06:38 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Kaslin

biden believes the anti-vax sentiment is a Republican thing. This from Salon: “a Republican identity is the best predictor of anti-vaccine sentiment. “

By blaming everything on the unvaxxed, he is blaming Republicans.


6 posted on 09/10/2021 5:06:51 AM PDT by I want the USA back (There's nothing in the Constitution that allows the government to become fascist. )
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To: Kaslin

Plugs gave it all away when he said: “..we must protect THE VACCINATED from the UN-VACCINATED..”

This has N O T H I N G to do with health and safety.

It is all about forced compliance and making us slaves to our “government”.


7 posted on 09/10/2021 5:20:34 AM PDT by joethedrummer
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To: Travis McGee

1984 is here. :-0


8 posted on 09/10/2021 5:20:41 AM PDT by xenia ("In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." George Orwell)
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To: hardspunned

“What percentage of total jobs are small business, less than 100 employees?“

Gee… anyone else remember about a year ago.. they were SHUTTING DOWN all small business - businesses that employed less than 100 people???

Coincidence???


9 posted on 09/10/2021 5:22:24 AM PDT by joethedrummer
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To: xenia

Totally. Covid 19-84.

Check out this site.
Stop Medical Silencing! Remove the political muzzle from medical professionals

[It’s incredible but true, MDs and nurses are being fired for not pushing the mRNA jab over any other treatment.]

https://www.rebelnews.com/stop_medical_silencing_remove_the_political_muzzle_from_medical_professionals


10 posted on 09/10/2021 5:22:43 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Kaslin
Oh no! We need a vax for something that has a 99.8% survival rate! And if you have had it, you have a lifetime of resistance to it.

COVID infection elicits lifelong immunity, destroying the fake worldwide vaccine narrative. Democrats are enraged at the attack on their profits via vaccine companies. 'We found antibody-producing cells in people 11 months after first symptoms. These cells will live and produce antibodies for the rest of people's lives. That's strong evidence for long-lasting immunity.' Article: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/covid-infection-elicits-long-lasting-immunity-nullifying-worldwide-vaccine-push-study Citation: Turner, J.S., Kim, W., Kalaidina, E. et al. SARS-CoV-2 infection induces long-lived bone marrow plasma cells in humans. Nature (2021). .

11 posted on 09/10/2021 5:27:45 AM PDT by ChuckR163
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To: hardspunned
According to SBC at https://sbecouncil.org/about-us/facts-and-data/, small business is less than 500 employees. This encompasses 99+% of all US business, and 99+% of all employees.
12 posted on 09/10/2021 5:29:54 AM PDT by ChuckR163
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To: I want the USA back

Turn the position around: being skeptical of an obviously troubled vax implies that you employ logic and reason, like a republican.

OK, I’ll accept that. The rest of y’all should not be allowed outside without a caregiver and stay away from pointy objects.


13 posted on 09/10/2021 5:49:50 AM PDT by bobbo666 (Baizuo, WuhanFlu)
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To: Kaslin

Their plan?

They’re counting on SCOTUS to rule this unconstitutional - which will be the “final straw” for the left to move against this “activist, partisan court”, and pack the court with compliant leftist judges.


14 posted on 09/10/2021 6:04:43 AM PDT by jonno (You are the carbon they want to reduce.)
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To: MrRelevant

Everything the democrats are doing is working towards a mega crisis, probably scamdemic related, to require postponement or universal mail in ballots for the ‘22 election. They will take the house and senate again regardless of the level of fraud necessary.


15 posted on 09/10/2021 10:38:05 AM PDT by hardspunned (former GOP globalist stooge)
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