On September 10, The Hill reported that “powerful business groups whose members are directly affected by President Biden’s vaccine requirement applauded Biden’s effort to boost vaccinations,” and the article continued with quotes from leaders of the nation’s largest and most influential business groups expressing their support. This is the unfortunate reality complicating Biden’s overreach on vaccine mandates. A lot—I’d even say a large majority—of large company management is very happy to have the federal government mandate action that they are already wanting to take. The Biden administration has given them cover and justification to force employees to get vaccinated. The action will also help cover those companies below the mystical hundred-employee threshold who just need any excuse to impose mandates.
In his farewell address, President Eisenhower warned, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
Eisenhower did not foresee the misplaced power of the broad political-industrial complex we are faced with today. That political industrial complex—an amalgam of the political industry, the industry politic, media, corporatists, crony capitalists, and the permanent federal bureaucracy—represents a serious threat to individual liberty in America. State governors bloviating, pledging defiance, and even taking legal action against the federal government will not be sufficient on its own to significantly turn the tide crashing in on individual liberty. That threat will not be mitigated by targeting efforts solely at government agencies.
In the declaration of American independence, it was declared that individuals “…are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.”
That last sentence cannot be over-emphasized. We institute government to protect our individual liberty against threats from every source. Attacks on individual liberty do not take on a different level of virtue based on the source of the attack. They are not more acceptable from one source than another. For the purpose of securing our liberties, we elect representatives. The final determination of what they will represent lies in the hands of those who elect them. It is exceedingly rare to find a politician whose idea of his primary purpose coincides with that of the Declaration—or to find an electorate that will hold him to it.
In recent days, I have heard too often from other liberty-minded folks that private businesses can force employees to do just about anything under the rationale that unhappy employees can simply go find something else to do. The failure of that logic is laid bare in the light of tens of millions of jobs being held in the balance by a vaccine mandate. Private employers don’t have a “right” to control your actions in your private life that don’t directly involve them. Your autonomy should never be the price of a job. It is not ok for an employer to force vaccines on employees. It is an assault on the liberty of individual employees to do so, and it is the proper obligation of government to stop it immediately. It is the responsibility of the people to motivate government to that end.
In Texas, a special legislative session begins on September 20. If this issue is not dealt with by our Legislature in the next month, it is almost certain that the opportunity to do so will have passed before the 2023 legislative session. Our elected officials, from state representative to governor, need to hear from us. Call them and tell them to use this special session to make sure that taking this vaccine does not become a requirement for working in Texas—for governmental entities or otherwise.
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