By Anita Hoy | October 7th, 2021 |
The government would have us believe they are both justified and authorized to regulate every aspect of public health including medical choices, access to treatment, forced treatments (such as vaccinations), and public versus private access to medical records. This conflict between the right of the individual and the alleged authority of government to regulate issues of medical intervention is as old as the Constitution itself.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and GENERAL WELFARE of the United States.
Constitution of the United States, Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 1 (Emphasis added)
There have long been those who would assert that the government derives its authority to legislate and mandate public health, and many other aspects of our lives, from the General Welfare Clause. Our current pandemic has been managed, mandated, regulated, and paid for under the auspices of the General Welfare Clause made possible by over 200 years of government overreach resulting from the deliberate broad interpretation and misuse of the same. This abuse of the General Welfare Clause is now used to fund everything from public education to welfare programs to COVID-19 vaccination programs and all matters imaginable in between with seemingly nothing prohibiting them from doing so.
The Founders never intended the General Welfare Clause to provide a blanket authorization for Congress to do whatever THEY decided was in the best interest of the people. In fact, the ability of Congress to act under the General Welfare Clause was intended to be limited to the 18 enumerated powers laid out by the Constitution. Knowing the nature of governments to exceed their rightful authority, the ninth and tenth amendments were added to ensure the rights of states and of individuals to manage their own affairs.
Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but is restrained to those specifically enumerated, and… it was never meant they should provide for that welfare but by the exercise of the enumerated powers.
Thomas Jefferson (Emphasis added)
James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and others among them were concerned about the possibility of a runaway Congress that could destroy the limited government they fought so hard to establish. We are living their worst fears under an ever-expanding behemoth that robs us: of our prosperity, in the form of excessive taxation and overregulation of businesses (including the forced closures during the COVID pandemic); of our autonomy over our own bodies, by regulating everything from haircuts and tattoos to forced medical intervention such as vaccine mandates; of our right to privacy by legislating documentation of vaccination to be permitted to work; and of our most basic and fundamental right to simply be left alone.
As if it were not enough that the government exerts its full force and overreach to legislate public health, they do so in an inconsistent manner. For example, during the AIDS crisis of the 80’s and 90’s, it was unlawful to discriminate against anyone who was HIV positive or to restrict their full access to public places, medical care, or employment. They were not required to disclose their medical status and were afforded the full scope of rights of any other citizen in a free society. Further protections of health information privacy were guaranteed in 1996 with the enactment of HIPAA, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which created strict regulations on the disclosure of private health information.
AIDS was considered a major public health epidemic, and yet, HIV positive patients were afforded the right to make informed decisions about their treatment options and the right to protect their privacy concerning their health information. Why then is the COVID-19 pandemic being treated completely the opposite? State and Federal regulations have been tossed about with no regard to constitutionality, consistency, or existing law such as HIPAA. People are now being fired from their jobs because of their personal healthcare decision not to be vaccinated. Access of public places including schools, stores, bars and restaurants, public transportation, and even open spaces such as parks are being restricted. Health information privacy is completely ignored where COVID is concerned. We are beginning to see requirements for proof of vaccination for employment, air travel, and in some places even medical care. Some doctors are beginning to decline to see patients who are not vaccinated. So much for the Hippocratic Oath, “first do no harm.”
Where is this heading? At the time of this writing, vaccine mandate deadlines have been reached in several places and people are still choosing not to be vaccinated. The result is many teachers, healthcare workers, military personnel, and others are being fired leaving labor shortages in essential jobs. Frontline healthcare workers, for example, are leaving in droves. With hospitals already struggling to care for the sick, why would they be willing to lose so many frontline workers, many of whom have antibody protection because they have already had COVID from exposure while treating patients over the past year and a half? They have natural immunity and experience treating this illness, yet hospitals are firing them and bringing in healthcare workers from other states, countries, and even the military to fill the labor shortages.
Those who are making the rules are either incompetent or short-sighted. Or perhaps this is all part of some larger plan to subjugate and control people and strengthen their tyrannical iron grip.
10 Easy Steps to Tyranny by Naomi Wolf
- Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
- Create a gulag
- Develop a thug caste
- Set up an internal surveillance system
- Harass citizens’ groups
- Engage in arbitrary detention and release
- Target key individuals
- Control the press
- Dissent equals treason
- Suspend the rule of law
We are being sorted: blue vs red, vaccinated vs unvaccinated, compliant vs questioning. We are being isolated from others, lied to by the press, and silenced by big tech companies. How far are we willing to let them go? How far are WE willing to go to protect our rights and our liberty?
© 2021 Anita Hoy. Published by The Liberty Register with the author’s consent. The author retains all creative rights. Republication by another source without permission is prohibited.
The Liberty Register 