Word of the Day: Authoritarianism

Biggest news of the week, outside of Sarge coming out to San Diego just to visit me, is President Biden's executive order mandating vaccines for federal employees, and for employers to require the vaccine.  Check out the epic twitter thread here.  I'm guessing tweeps are twitter users.

Now, while I have chosen to get the vaccine, and it's definitely a good thing, especially for those with comorbidities or the elderly, I am wholly against mandatory or forced vaccination of Americans.  No one should have to chose their job over a decision in which there's so much unknown about the vaccine or the virus over the long term, and Doctors are wholly in agreement that pregnant women and young children should not get it.  If someone can show me the Article, Section and Clause in the Constitution that gives the President the power to control private businesses, I'll give them 13.5 Juvat Bucks and a year-long subscription to Chant du' Depart!  

I am also frustrated and a little scared about these constant power grabs from the left. Trillion dollar recovery bills, trillion dollar infrastructure bill*, federalizing student loans, federalizing control of elections, the CDC directing an eviction moratorium, attempts to expand or extend the eviction moratorium, threats to expand and pack the supreme Court, eliminating the filibuster, ramming through the affordable Care act with zero GOP votes, H.R. 51, turning DC into a state, and there's probably more.  Feel free to suggest them in the comments.

Several of these other grabs are just wrong- bad policies that don't look at the secondary and tertiary effects.  Others like the facts requirement and eviction moratoriums are completely unconstitutional.  I'm quite sure that the administration knows this but they do it anyway, with a legally ignorant voter base, a divided nation through empowering victimization, and a complicit media that seems to have abandoned its role to help keep corruption in check, in favor of their own personal views as citizens vice their responsibility as news people. 

Your postman is exempt as well.  Is this getting a lot of press?  Nope.  While I'm not supportive of a mandate, the fact that the mandate isn't universal across the government just reeks of hypocrisy and "do as I say, not as I do."  Yes, I know the majority of Congress is vaccinated, but Biden made a point of calling out their exemption.  I guess it's something to do with Executive vs. Legislative Branches of Govt.  But the USPS?  Unions.  Yet another example of what George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, this captured from the animated film: 

Since it was the pigs running the farm, I think "Some Pigs are more equal than others" 
is quite apropos, especially considering we're talking about Congress. 

The mandate for employers is almost surely unconstitutional, and once it gets challenged, the Supreme Court will have to strike it down.  Technically Biden asked the Dept of Labor to issue an emergency order, vice declaring it himself, which might just be a bit of legal trickery, but we'll see.  Either way, it's still an overreach.  

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain took some heat on social media on Thursday after he retweeted a post that appeared to praise the Biden administration for making an end-run with their vaccine mandate plan.  Source

 

The White House retweeting her probably shows they know will have problems with the constitution, so there was clear intent to bypass it.  And the exemptions weaken the whole issue.  Then again, it could be political theater, so they can claim we're anti-vax when it goes to the Supreme Court.  And where does the CDC get off declaring anything to do with how rental property is managed? Where's the local, state or federal law to back that up?  Fortunately Biden's extension of that eviction moratorium was blocked by the Supes, but it should have never come to that.  They don't care that it is clearly or potentially illegal or unconstitutional, but as we've seen time and again, they don't care about the law, only their power.  "Never let a crisis go to waste," or "By any means necessary" have been the guiding principles of the left for many years.  Why did we allow this to happen?  We accepted it by doing nothing. 

I realize that we didn't all sit idly by, I ranted quite prolifically as I am wont to do, here in the blog, in my social media, and in conversations with others.  Maybe some of you used your vote to express discontent, or you wrote your Congress person, or engaged in dialogue with others.  These are all well and good, but they seem to be ineffectual when the left uses fear to control us.  

I have an old squadron-mate friend of mine who seems to constantly counter my conservative posts on social media with a less than conservative perspective.  Regarding the mandate, he admits it is an overstepping of authority, but he's supportive because "it will save lives." That to me is one of the most egregious statements, giving up your rights in an "emergency" because of fear.  Do 16 year olds really need to be vaxxed?  My 25 year old nephew got COVID and shrugged it off like a bad cold.  If we're vaxxed, we're probably protected, so don't worry too much about the others.  I probably had it early, but was asymptomatic, since I rode in the car with my wife for 2 days earlier this year while she had it, but then I had a negative test 5 days later.  I tend to believe this emergency was man-made, for the express purpose of fear and control, and yet another power grab, but that is for another post.

I discuss, complain, and rant, even if they only fall on like-minded or deaf ears, because I can't stay silent, and I hope that maybe my voice will be joined with others or change someone's mind.

The power grabs seem to be out of some sense of responsibility for our behavior, as if they know better than us.  We are treated like children who are incapable of managing our own behavior.  The call out the unvaxxed in a way that is reminicient to how the Nazis referred to Jews before WWII.  They silence dissent by doling out billions (trillions?) in supposed aid, while put millions out of work, many of them poor young and minorities.  So we see those videos of young people being asked thinks like "Are you proud to be an American?" or "Do you think America is a good country," and they often answer in the negative, claiming we're "so racist" and unfair.  They are fed a constant stream of that in their youth, so they grow up to be compliant adults.

Of course, none of these power grabs are looked at as to how it will affect future generations, or our economy, or future employment. The trillions in aid has caused the worst inflation we've had in decades.  And this is felt most greatly by the poor.   The unemployment assistance has been a huge anchor on the economy even though we are all mostly back to work, but employers can't find workers.  This isn't because they aren't there, it's because they don't need to work when the government is giving them money.  Our great-grandchildren will be paying off these stimulus bills, if our country and our economy survives.

I tend to believe that Biden's declarations are partially just a smoke screen to cover up the fact that their darling Dr Fauci has clearly lied to Congress about the origins and funding of COVID-19's development.  He created a virus, that created a different virus, that has turned into Pandora's box.  We'll see how things go during and after the mid-terms.

So if the media, the politicians, and a very vocal minority don't want to face facts, what can we do?  Keep speaking out, don't be afraid of what others might say and think.  Ask your employer why he or she is or isn't going to comply and why having natural antibodies aren't a factor.  We don't have to be rude and angry about it, just point out the facts and mention the secondary and tertiary effects of these policies.  I like to ask those who are less than conservative what they think our debt ceiling should be, or if they think we can ever afford it, or what they think might happen to our economy.  The vax issue is pretty polarizing, but I asked someone why does a young adult, or even a 16 year old kid, people who won't get very sick at all, need to get the vax?  The dialogue then progressed to the typical talking points which are actually fairly easy to counter- If they won't get very sick, is it so they won't spread it to you?  But aren't you vaccinated?  Oh, it's the Delta Variant?  Can't we still spread that if we are vaccinated?  I also ask why those previously sick need to be vaxxed when we're seeing that that natural immunity is better than being vaxxed.  Etc.**  They may not have answers, and I may not change their mind, at least not right away, but sometimes they need a dose of reality when nobody else will give it to them.      

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke 

*And one that turns every illegal immigrant into an automatic citizen!
**And why were treatments suppressed when we're now finding out that they work?