Land of the Free

The debate over the Covid 19 vaccines as been going on since the vaccines became available earlier this year. It has ramped up since the virus mutated into the Delta variant which is much more contagious and can even be caught and spread by vaccinated people. The rare vaccinated person who tests positive does not get seriously ill, but they can spread the virus to the unvaccinated person who can get very ill and die. Every medical expert has told us from the beginning that getting the vaccine would stop the spread of the virus and allow us to get our lives back. But a significant percentage of the population has refused to get vaccinated, and now holds the rest of us hostage. To quote Michael Corleone, “Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.” It’s time to take back the country from the idiots and the people who are feeding them self serving misinformation.

The Delta variant is now raging in the south and the Midwest that are dominated by conservatives. As their hospitals are overwhelmed with dying patients of all ages, they give us the personal freedom argument. The government can’t tell me what to do. Many of the less educated believing the torrent of misinformation about the dangers of the vaccines. The rest of us are also entitled to have our freedom protected from the spread of a deadly disease. The Constitution never guaranteed absolute freedom. Our government was created to protect everyone’s freedom, but there are rules and boundaries. There are restrictions on freedom of speech. We’ve all heard about yelling fire in a crowded theater. There are restrictions on freedom of the press. You can’t libel someone by knowingly publishing false information. As the governor of California pointed out, you can’t get behind the wheel drunk and drive. You can even be stopped by police for not wearing a seatbelt.

Governors DeSantis of Florida, where the virus is spreading faster than ever, and Abbott of Texas are using personal freedom to score political points with their conservative Republican base. Their personal dreams of running for president has pushed them to issue executive orders forbidding mask mandates. They’re getting back to normal no matter what, the virus be damned. So if a local government or school district or private business wants to protect their citizens or students or customers, they can’t exercise that freedom? All across the South and places like Missouri you see these hospital bedside interviews with people gasping for breath who now wish they had taken the vaccine. They just wouldn’t or couldn’t understand what the medical experts have been telling them and the live proof that the vaccines work. We hear medical experts saying we have to be respectful of people’s anti-vaccine views and try to persuade them to do the right thing. Time is running out. Sometime it takes pressure for people to understand they are a danger to themselves and all the rest of us.

Then there’s the “confusion” argument. The CDC told us several months ago we didn’t have to wear masks anymore because infections were way down and people we getting vaccinated. In the last couple of months, the Delta variant has changed the game and people stopped getting vaccinated. So the anti-vaccine crowd is saying the CDC has confused everyone. There should be no confusion. All viruses change. This one did. It’s more dangerous. Science tells us we need change our behavior and continue to protect ourselves.

New York City is now telling people they will need to show proof of vaccination to get served at restaurants, work out at gyms, and go to theaters and concerts. French President Macron was right when he said it’s time for the unvaccinated to stay home.  We take pride in being “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” We have to be brave enough to stand up for our freedom, fight for the truth and save the lives of people who are endangering us all.