Last week, I wrote a column about how I wish the country would remember what it was like to be united on September 12, 2001. Well, following a series of unfortunate events, President Joe Biden might have found a way to more deeply divide Americans afterall.
Last Thursday, President Biden signed a mandate forcing employers with over 100 employees to require vaccination against COVID-19 or test employees weekly for the virus. This mandate would affect roughly 80 million Americans according to a report by USA Today.
Following in the wake of this mandate Governors across the country announced plans to sue the Federal Government stating the mandate was unconstitutional. Including most Republican lead southern states. But well known Left-leaning political commentators and comedians have also gone on record denouncing the newest mandate.
It’s one thing if privately owned companies want to require their employees to be vaccinated. It’s quite a different matter entirely if the leader of the executive branch can, with one signature affect the lives of 80 millian Americans. A presidential mandate bypasses the checks and balances system put into place by the Constitution of the United States.
Numerous public figures and political leaders have responded to President Biden’s mandate stating that while they themselves have received the COVID-19 vaccination, they would never want to take the freedom of choice from Americans. And that’s essentially what the mandate is doing.
I rarely come out and state how I personally believe in these columns. I simply try to bring up questions that maybe we need to consider, but on this topic, I feel it needs to be said, “This is wrong.”
While, I and the eligible members of my family have been vaccinated against the virus, it is not mine, nor anyones right to dictate to another American that they must have the shot. I got the shot because it was my freedom to choose to receive it, not because it was mandated. Educating the public on the true effects of the virus and the vaccination is the real path to a solution.
I think of the old colloquialism “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” In this case, leading the horse to water is the correct path to take. Trying to make him drink will only serve to further the divide in our nation which was founded on the principles of freedom for all.
This mandate will force millions of Americans to either inject themselves, undergo weekly testing or face not putting food on the table by being jobless. Faced with those choices, it seems like the word freedom might need an update in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.
Now, I’ll go ahead and say, I don’t see this mandate standing. There are too many people in America who think like I do and see this as a gross misuse power and overstep of the government as an infringement on human rights.
For the love of our country, we need to stick to the path of leading people to the water through education, but never forget the fact that Americans in general, are simply too proud of a people to be forced to drink the “water”.
