As more corporate enforcers do Biden’s dirty work coercing employees to get COVID vaccines, Republicans need to do more than twiddle their thumbs as struggling Americans make the excruciating decision between jab or job.
Fighting and winning the Vaccine Wars will take multipronged civil disobedience from all of us — ordinary citizens, lawyers, businesses, and even our politicians. Elected Republicans think of themselves as statesmen, not activists, but that has to change. For decades, Democrats have been fighting a vicious political war while Republicans play their father’s gentlemanly game of politics. Elected Democrats see their role as warriors with a duty to effectuate social justice and equity using all levers of power under their control, and enlist union, judiciary, education, and media allies to accomplish their goals by any means necessary.
This will undoubtedly make some Republicans squirm. But, following established Democrat precedent, it is perfectly legit to use our political processes to undertake certain acts of civil disobedience. In its introduction to “civil disobedience” the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states:
On the most widely accepted account, civil disobedience is a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies (Rawls 1999, 320). On this account, people who engage in civil disobedience operate at the boundary of fidelity to law, have general respect for their regime, and are willing to accept the legal consequences of their actions, as evidence of their fidelity to the rule of law. Civil disobedience, given its place at the boundary of fidelity to law, is said on this view to fall between legal protest, on the one hand, and conscientious refusal, uncivil disobedience, militant protest, organized forcible resistance, and revolutionary action, on the other hand.
While conservatives and elected Republicans have barely grazed the “boundaries of fidelity to law,” Democrats have long been operating in the thick of it. Obama refused to enforce immigration laws and the Defense of Marriage Act; Governor Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ignored the express will of the people who overwhelmingly passed Prop 8 on traditional marriage; Democrats established sanctuary cities that blatantly flout the law; Biden ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling on the CDC’s eviction moratorium; Obama/Biden entered into international treaties (JCPOA and Paris Accords) without 2/3 Senate approval and enacted ObamaCare where the actual content was kept secret. They twice trumped-up impeachment charges against Trump and are treating political dissent as domestic terrorism. Virtually every congressional hearing amounts to civil disobedience aimed at changing laws and government policies.
What started out as persuading family over a cup of cocoa at Christmas then evolved into “get in their faces,” has morphed into the nightmarish persecution of anti-vax killers and the prosecution of parents and conservatives as “domestic terrorists” — constitutional protections be damned.
Civil disobedience can be particularly effective when it hits intended targets in the pocketbook. As parents protest CRT, LGBTQ+, and vaccine/mask mandates in their schools, they have turned the power tables in their favor by threatening to keep their children home — which directly impacts school budgets. Many school budgets are to some extent based on per capita, per diem attendance. Unexcused absences — other than illnesses with a doctor’s note — result in lost funding. Schools frown on this. Yet, parental threats have been consequential as board members resign across the country, even in Loudoun County where the superintendent issued an apology for failing to maintain a safe environment.
The recent spate of corporate mandates could be reversed quickly, if Republicans undertook some civil disobedience of their own, ala the Democrats. State legislatures, governors, and Congress should propose legislation that requires government or private employers who coerce vaccination as a condition of employment, to agree to indemnify employees, who were forced to get vaccinated to keep their jobs, for any future injury or death that can be attributed to the vaccines.
If the vaccines are so safe and effective, and perhaps they are, then these companies shouldn’t hesitate to put their collective money where their mouths are. But they won’t do that. After weighing a $14,000 fine from Biden versus the potential for unlimited liability to injured employees, most, if not all, of Biden’s corporate enforcers will back off faster than you can say “hydroxychloroquine.”
The beauty of this is the indemnification legislation needn’t end up as actually signed legislation to have its intended effect. Businesses often take preventative action today to ward off perceived and anticipated risks of tomorrow. They must feel pressured to respond to our threats, rather than Biden’s. To accomplish that, Republicans have to PR the living daylights out of the proposed bill, explaining that they are standing up for the little guy being squashed by evil corporations in bed with the Democrats.
This is how we “nudge” corporate enforcers back to sanity. Nudging is a real public policy term that “involves using behavioral, economic, and psychological insights to influence the behavior of policy targets in order to help achieve policy goals.” Dems use it relentlessly; Republicans don’t even know it exists.
None of this is to suggest we abandon other acts of civil disobedience. We continue the lawsuits, protests, and state bans on mandates but the latter is bound to set in motion a battle-of-the-mandates-federalism-debate that will work its way through the federal courts until a split in the circuits lands it before the Supreme Court. It is not the short-term fix needed for the millions who will either lose their livelihoods or be forcibly conscripted to vaccinate.
If we mandate anything, it should be required immunity testing before anyone is vaxxed. Dr. Hooman Noorchashm advocates for #Screenb4Vaccine, concerned that a one-size-fits-all approach overlooks dangerous pitfalls for millions who might be immune from a previous COVID infection. Vaccinating the immune can cause deadly inflammation that affects the heart and causes blood clots, among other risks. Noorchashm is a highly respected physician who fully supports the vaccine and saved millions of women’s lives by proving that the morcellator used to destroy fibroids actually spreads cancer. Immunity testing would save lives and address many concerns the vaccine-hesitant have about the vaccine’s deadly and adverse effects.
If we use indemnification legislation to nudge corporate enforcers back to their default position and pass legislation requiring immunity testing, we can return health autonomy and power back to the people. In the meantime, find people at work who agree with you, even if they are vaccinated and recognize that you have more power in your ruby reds than you thought: this labor shortage means employees, to a certain extent, have employers by the proverbial Christmas ornaments. Few can afford to lose trained and skilled workers. Use that to your advantage. It is all permissible civil disobedience.
If you are interested in joining thousands of patriots pressuring Republican governors and congressmen to push for indemnification and immunity testing legislation, join my email list 75M & Rising. It’s free, takes only minutes of your time, and is so easy, even a Neanderthal can do it.
Image: Raimond Spekking
