I'm Not Getting a COVID Vaccine...
Estimated read time: 11 minutes
...and I don't have to tell you why
Ok, I'll be honest. By the time I finish writing this article, I might hop in my car and go get a shot.
I might wait until tomorrow.
Or next week.
Or next fall.
There's a thought. When I get a flu shot next fall, I'll kill two birds with one stone and get the COVID shot, too. At this point, the experts don't know if the COVID vaccine provides a lifetime of protection or if we'll need to have an annual booster shot like we do for the flu, so what's the rush to get a shot right now?
For the last year, we've been told to stay six feet apart, avoid crowds, wash hands, and wear a mask. The experts usually get the order of importance wrong and stress wearing a mask, first, and then add the other three cautions as an after thought - but the first three rules are rules I have always lived by and believe everyone should live by...every day...pandemic or no pandemic.
Who wants a stranger breathing down their neck while standing in the cashier's line at the grocery store? Back it up six feet, bud. Respect my personal space.
All the lemmings might want to gather over there, but the smart ones go over here where there's more room to enjoy and everything's cheaper because all the crowds (and money) are over there. Who wants to join the lemming crowd with all the pushing, shoving, and cutting in line when one can go over here where they are treated like royalty because there's hardly anyone else getting in the way and demanding attention? Go over there and leave me alone. Be careful around that cliff, though. The first step over it is a doozy and might be your last...and many in that crowd are willing to push you over it.
Washing hands is a good hygiene practice that Mom taught you when you were tall enough to reach the faucets on your own. Observing how many people use a public restroom and walk out without at least running water over their hands is all the more reason why six feet apart should be the law of the land - COVID or not. Enough said there.
I've never been a fan of face masks and even less of a fan of mandated face masks. No snot nosed kid, who lacks the responsibility to show up to work every day - not to mention the enthusiasm to learn their job so they can direct me to the aisle where the capers are - should be ordering anyone to put on a mask. But since our politicians, who rarely think past knee jerk reactions, have decided masks saves lives, it follows mask wearing should be a sufficient substitute to getting a vaccine. It's been a good enough practice for the last year. It should be good enough for the next year and every year - pandemic or no pandemic.
My body; my choice.
"Whoa," you might say. "Your body; your choice...until your choice affects my health."
Tell that to the millions of unborn who never see the light of day because of your choice.
Here's the bottom line. If you're vaccinated and I am not, I am no threat to you. Quit pretending I am.
By now you're thinking, "Uh-oh, another antivaxer."
If you are thinking that, you're wrong. I have been vaccinated against diseases I haven't even heard of. I'm not sure what all those shots were for in basic training, but in hindsight, recruiters should be required to disclose their vaccination schedule to potential recruits before they sign up. Recruits should have the right to know what will be injected in their body before they sign on the dotted line.
No employer should be authorized to mandate their employees to subject themselves to medical procedures as a condition of employment without notifying the potential hire (or recruit) what those medical procedures might be. If something related to my health requires ingestion, injection, incision, or extraction, it is a medical procedure no matter what the experts call it or how routine the procedure is.
I once had a doctor ask me if I underwent any medical procedures. I told him I had a tooth pulled. He said that wasn't a medical procedure. I said I wanted a second opinion. I never went back to that doctor.
Let me reiterate. If something related to one's health requires ingestion, injection, incision, or extraction, then it is a medical procedure.
But there is a far bigger reason we all should take an antivax-like stand. There has never been a national discussion on three key questions:
- Is it the government's job to save lives or to provide the tools that can save lives?
- How much, if any, authority and control should employers and institutions be allowed to enforce on their employees or members?
- Where does one's responsibilities to society end and their rights to make decisions they believe are best for their families and themselves begin?
It might be too late to start a discussion, but let's try.
Is it the government's job to save lives or to provide the tools that can save lives?
This is the tricky question. How one answers it shapes the role government will play in our lives. So, yes, I started with the hard question first.
Now would be a good time to review what the government is. Our Founding Fathers described government very precisely. Government is of the people, for the people, and by the people. Notice they didn't describe the government as being one person, rich people, a political party, corporate CEOs, or the fastest talking con artist taking the podium at the moment. Government is the people in every respect and aspect of the structure.
It is with our money, to the tune about $14.7 billion per day, that our federal, state, and local governments exist. It is with our money we give them that we can demand what tools we expect from them. They can tell us how to use the tools, but they can't (or shouldn't) make us use them.
It would serve most of our elected officials (and government employees) well if they understood and accepted that everyone in the government works for us, not for themselves nor for a political party. Too many in our federal, state, and local governments forget that their existence is based on our money and forget that most of us giving them our money don't give a muskrat's patootie about what they think is best for us (they aren't our parents) nor their personal agendas (they serve us, not themselves).
Somewhere along the way our elected officials have taken it upon themselves to define their role as one of saving lives. That responsibility changes the whole structure and function of our government to something that would look alien, and tyrannical, to our Founding Fathers. Adopting the role of saving lives as a function of the government changes the federal and state governments into a Mom/Dad relationship and changes local governments into a Big Brother/Big Sister relationship. Instead of the government being a supplier of tools to help us live our lives fully and productively as we enjoy our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the government became the dictator of how we will enjoy our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Nowhere do I recall a national conversation to change the fundamental role of our federal, state, and local governments. Self serving elected officials made that decision for us. It's time we take that decision back.
 |
| Looks like an awesome Nerf toy for a protest |
Yes, our government employees and elected officials had the luxury of self isolating while essential employees had to report to work and face the pandemic head on else be unemployed with denial of unemployment benefits for choosing not to work during a national crisis. The burden of "essential employees" fell upon at or near minimum wage employees, the very citizens that need the most protection from unscrupulous employers, landlords, corporations, and government. To drive home the class privilege (and, by default, race privilege) rampant in this country, our elected officials (our self proclaimed legal guardians of the people) jumped the vaccination line in the name of "continuity of government" while the lesser people had to wait their turn, which included 78-year-old Mom waiting for her vaccination while elected officials twenty years or more her junior jumped ahead of her.
You will find plenty of statistics showing how many confirmed cases and how many deaths there were, but you will be hard pressed to find the demographics of those infected (a nightmare if you had COVID) and how many died (a tragedy no matter how you look at it). When we see the socioeconomic disparities and the fact that our elected officials and government employees were spared the negative effects of the pandemic, outrage should be the least of their worries. For over a year, they made the decision of who had to work and who didn't and who could stay open for business and who couldn't...decisions made from the safety of their home via remote video and without any public input. They ruined many lives while they remained safe from the pandemic, yet boast how effectively they handled the crisis.
Ask yourself, "Has your $14.7 billion per day been wisely spent for the last year and a half?"
How much, if any, authority and control should employers and institutions be allowed to enforce on their employees or members?
Answer to this question is simple - NONE. Businesses can choose to do business as they see fit and we can choose to take our business elsewhere if we don't like their business model. Here's where we need our government to step in, though. If a business (including schools) require a vaccination, they should be required to allow for the option of a mask in lieu of the vaccination. Masks have been good enough for the last year plus and they should be good enough now. No business (nor school) should have the authority to dictate what medical procedure a customer (yes, a student is a customer) should undergo. (Remember, a medical procedure is anything that requires an ingestion, injection, incision, or extraction. My body, my choice. That's the mantra. Follow it.) In the name of public safety and the abstract idea of a social contract, let the individual choose between a shot and a mask. There shouldn't be any further discussion on the subject save for the idea of being required to carry a vaccination card to prove you can go maskless. For those who aren't a fan of Mom, Dad, Big Brother, and Big Sister watching our every move, a masked society shielding us from disease (and facial recognition cameras) is a win-win scenario. Carrying a vaccination card to prove you can be maskless shouldn't be a big deal for those who want to go maskless.
Where does one's responsibilities to society end and their rights to make decisions they believe are best for their families and themselves begin?
This question must sound foreign to a generation raised believing the world revolves around them because everything is about them. News flash - in a world of everything-is-about-me philosophy, that means nothing-is-about-you philosophy runs parallel. Being the social creatures (albeit, sometimes too social) that we are, the everything-is-about-me philosophy is a self destructive philosophy.
When we sit back and think about ourselves and how we fit into the world, we begin to realize there is some sort of unwritten social contract we all should abide by.
On the humorous side, we recognize that nudity laws weren't written by a bunch of prudes embarrassed by the naked body. Most people naked are plain ugly, gawky, funny looking, or whatever adjective you want to use to describe them. Like animals that look better with feathers or fur, people look better with clothes.
On the serious side, we are filled with empathy that led to such golden rules as treat others as you would want to be treated. We can't live alone, but we can't live with hundreds...thousands...millions...or billions of others around us. As a result, we all understand we have varying levels of responsibilities to those around us (family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers), but sometimes we blur those responsibilities to the detriment of ourselves and our families. This is an important concept.
Our responsibilities to ourselves, our families, our friends, our acquaintances, and strangers follow in that order of importance. Most of us wouldn't question giving a kidney to a family member or even a friend, but an acquaintance or a stranger? It takes an extremely empathetic person not to give a second thought to giving a kidney to an acquaintance or stranger. So where does one's responsibilities to society, society being strangers, end and one's responsibilities to oneself and family begin?
No one has answered that question. Our elected officials took it upon themselves to answer the question for everyone. Their answer? Your responsibility is to society and that's why we're closing you down, requiring you to stay home, and if you must leave, you will wear a mask. The result of their decision? Statistics are vague because that is a stat our politicians who made the decision to shut down don't want to be associated with, but anywhere from "over 100,000" to "1.8 million" (as reported by Fox Business reported in July 2020) have temporarily or permanently closed. (Please feel free to provide a more substantiate statistic if you find one.)
What is important to note here is these business owners had no say in the matter. They were forced to put strangers ahead of themselves and their families. They were never given the option to remain open as long as they alerted the public they were ignoring government and CDC guidelines in order to remain opened.
Governments can encourage, including offering monetary incentives, to get businesses to act in the manner they wish, but no level of government should have the right to dictate how a business is to be run. Customers will dictate how a business will be run. That's the whole idea behind a free market system. Businesses that didn't adhere to government and CDC guidelines would go out of business. Those that did would remain open as long as they could. But the people and the business owners would make the call, not the government.
"But, but, but..." you might say. "We have last call. Why is telling alcohol businesses when they can and cannot sell their product legal?"
We shouldn't have last call anymore than we should institute directives to shut down or curtail businesses during a pandemic or any other "crisis." Such actions and archaic laws are an overreach of government and needs to be rolled back. Government is best seen, not heard...and should always be limited in extreme crisis. Last call is not an extreme crisis. Neither is a pandemic.
Where to go from here?
First and foremost, remember, there were no political heroes during the last year and a half of the COVID crisis. Plenty of villains, but no heroes. There was an abundance of politicians making bad decisions, more bad decisions than good ones. They'll all toot their own horns about all the good decisions they made (even if it was only one decision), but the tooting should be your clue to vote for the other candidate.
Come midterms and beyond, pay attention to the candidate who has learned the lessons of COVID. Pay attention to the candidate who wants to serve you, not lead you. It's a simple rule George Washington more or less stated at the founding of this country and a simple rule all our politicians need to return to - serve the people; don't lead them.
Politicians won't admit it, but the people started the lockdown before the government made it official. People were already ignoring the state's no mask laws before the state officially rescinded their no mask laws and then mandated masks again. And people started reopening before the government started making reopening official. All along, our politicians have been following behind the people's decisions by about three weeks. If they claim otherwise, vote for their opponent.
Above all, remember it is not the government's role to save lives. It is their role to provide the tools we need to save lives. If a politician tells you differently, vote against the bum.
TL;DR Folks:
No wonder you're controlled by party politics and the government. Break the cult bonds and read the article. Grab a beer or glass of wine if it helps.
Posted by A Drunk Redneck
Comments
Post a Comment