Wwhen Joe Biden started demanding the vaccination of military and federal employees, I was with him. Heck, I found the idea of going door-to-door to encourage vaccines too timid (why not take photos of them?). I’m a big promoter (without any puns) of vaccines. But Joe Biden’s new plan to require vaccines (or weekly tests) on companies with 100 or more employees crosses a line that should not be crossed.
Biden commits the same abuse of power for which I have criticized Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, in reverse. DeSantis told private companies they could not implement a vaccine requirement. Biden is trying to use government force to force private companies to enforce their political preference.
I am pro-vaccine and I think they save lives. In this sense, Biden’s goal is much nobler. But in principle, both examples are equally pernicious.
If this infuriates you, it’s probably because you’re focused on security, but not on freedom. It is clearly where Biden is. “It’s not about freedom or personal choice,” he said Thursday. “It’s about protecting yourself and those around you, the people you work with, the people you care about, the people you love.”
But both security i freedom should be considered because both are vital to a thriving democracy.
Now, I am not suggesting that the republic is over because of this single mandate. That I I am what he suggests is that Biden is wrong in doing this, and that this exposes his (in my opinion) dangerous worldview.
Let me explain. The formulation of “ordered freedom” is one of the best descriptions of conservatism I aspire to follow. It excludes authoritarians who, with Trump as the exception demonstrated by the rule, tend to excel in security, safety, and law and order, but do not reach freedom. It also excludes extreme libertarians and anarchists who adopt freedom but are weak in maintaining order and preserving public health and safety. A free society demands both, which is why conservatives talked at length about limited government.
This balance is often unsatisfactory. Citizens who suffer a wave of violent and massive crimes may miss a strong man starting to break their heads. They may be disappointed to learn that suspects also have rights. At the same time, our individualistic / independent streak doesn’t want Big Brother to force us to be out smoking or wearing a seat belt, for fear it will be a slippery slope until the government shows up at your door to confiscate your belongings. weapons or manipulate with your family. They may be disappointed to learn that the government (ideally, through the legislative branch) has an interest in passing sensible laws to protect public health.
This tension not only divides the nation; it divides the Republican Party (a group that already oscillates between the ends, according to who has the power). Democrats also tend to go back and forth on this (replacing fear of COVID with fear of Islamist terrorism and seeing how suddenly they care more about the government trampling on freedom).
Both impulses (fetishizing autonomy and fetishizing security) are dangerous when taken to one extreme. But both are also deeply embedded ingredients and necessary, in moderate doses, for the American way of life. Achieving the right balance is key, and it is certainly much harder than postponing either end while condemning the other.
This brings us back to Biden’s vaccination mandate, which seems to me the first time he has upset this delicate balance, as he belongs to COVID.
On the one hand, its increasingly heavy approach is likely to provoke a reaction among people who are already hesitant to get vaccinated. Although I have little patience to humor or enable the delusional, I would rather go ahead than stop; all it does is provoke polarization and conspiratorial thinking.
It is also worth noting that Biden is reversing course. In December, he said the vaccine should not be mandatory. But again, he also said it was “highly unlikely” that the Taliban would take Afghanistan and that action would be needed in Congress to renew the eviction moratorium (before the executive order was issued).
In both the moratorium and the vaccine mandate, Biden used his executive branch to do something that is constitutionally questionable, after previously suggesting that he could not or would not do so. The fact that progressives cheer him up speaks of his hypocrisy (if Trump did!) And his inconsistency.
There is also a sense of foreboding that the American system is so dysfunctional and is wrapped up in stasis and blocking that things like “regular order” and “rule of law” are kindnesses that we can no longer afford. . In other words, the ends justify the means. I rejected that foundation when Republicans apologized for Trump’s executive excess and I reject it now that the shoe is on the other foot.
After an impressive start, Biden’s presidency has stumbled a lot this summer as it continues to disappoint.
Change your nickname from “Sleepy Joe” to “The Fonz”. That was the week Joe Biden jumped the shark against the vaccines.