Let me now introduce you to the fifth branch of government, corporations. In a post-COVID world where public health is preeminent over every sphere of authority including our own Constitution, public policy is now being privatized and private property rights are being construed to mean that business owners can now regulate the healthcare of both their employees and consumers. We are entering into new territory and for the most part, it seems that both the left and right sides of the aisles are just fine with it.
Current legislative sessions across the country have been filled with lively debate regarding vaccines and the use of vaccine passports both by government entities and by businesses who are opting to make decisions on healthcare a requirement for goods and services. And even in the most conservative of states, it seems to be a difficult premise to accept that bodily autonomy is a basic human right. These arguments are not new of course. Groups across the country have been fighting for legislation to protect medical freedom for years. But now with the dawn of medical overlords like Fauci, the debate has taken center stage.
“My body, my choice” has a whole new meaning. And we now use language like, “no one has a right to make me sick,” which is typically aimed at the supposedly evil individual who makes a personal decision not to wear a mask or not to take a vaccine.
One of the most contentious debates now surrounds the use or the requirement for using vaccine passports. One argument amongst conservatives is that businesses should be able to require anything of their customers as a requirement for entry, or for the privilege of accessing the goods and services of that business. After all, we believe in the free market and the rights of property owners to make their own decisions and refuse services to whomever they choose. But what about the basic human rights of every individual? Are the rights of business owners superior to the rights of each individual? Or, are they not one and the same? We have long accepted in America, especially since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that discrimination against individuals based solely on their race and sex amongst other things is wrong and should not be tolerated.
Again in 1990, we passed the Americans with Disabilities Act demanding equal access for those with disabilities to goods and services and went so far as to put financial obligations on private property owners who engage in certain types of business to make the appropriate accommodations. Certainly, some might argue that these regulations could be unconstitutional in terms of how the Founders may have interpreted liberty and the rights of property owners. And that is a fair argument and debate. However, these policies of nondiscrimination have been woven into the fabric of who we are as Americans and in my opinion, hold to the notions of individual and civil liberties that our Constitution was written to secure.
But suddenly, we are accepting the premise that businesses are not, or ought not to be regulated in any way and that private property rights now give a business owner absolute rights in terms of the policies it creates over the general public. And frankly, this is a winning solution for elected officials because now the burdens and consequences of policymaking have been lifted and transferred to private individuals who are unelected and unaccountable to the public. It is the perfect recipe for a new kind of tyranny that insulates the government, yet subjects an unsuspecting population to rules and regulations that I believe the majority of Americans reject.
Leaders like DeSantis seem to see this for what it really is and have challenged the notion that corporations truly hold this kind of power over the public. In his latest executive order, he restricted businesses in the state of Florida from having the ability to arbitrarily deny goods and services to individuals through the use of vaccine passports in the state. Similarly, the Alabama Senate has unanimously passed a bill that carries the same types of restrictions on businesses.
But in Tennessee, big business and healthcare oligarchies reign supreme and seem to have the GOP establishment in their back pocket, including the Governor. And Texas seems to be moving the same direction in terms of choosing that the supposed rights of business owners are something unique and independent of the liberties that we are all meant to enjoy.
Does being “pro-business” mean that in no circumstance it would be appropriate to place restrictions on business? Do states not require some businesses to be licensed in order to engage in commerce? Are businesses not required to pay taxes? Do businesses now not have to accommodate for disabilities and ignore the civil rights of fellow Americans? In light of these questions, the idea that it would be burdensome for a business owner to respect the medical privacy of consumers is absurd.
Let’s face it. Every federal law, every law in state statute, and every ordinance on the books in a municipality is in essence a restriction on liberty. Liberty with no restriction at its conclusion is anarchy. This is precisely why we are a nation of laws. These limited restrictions on liberty are necessary to preserve some amount of liberty for all to enjoy. And without these restrictions or laws, liberty would certainly be but a dream for many leaving only the powerful to enjoy its benefits.
In this new era of corporate tyranny ushered in by the cry for public health, we are creating a new class warfare between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Corporations across the country are busy already putting policies in place that create differing benefit structures for employees based on these new classes of individuals. Many are having to make the choice between their career and submitting to an experimental gene therapy as a requirement for employment. And consumers now face being shut out of large portions of the economy should the use of vaccine passports continue to be accepted for not only travel but also in other places of public accommodation such as grocery stores and other services that we depend on for everyday life.
This is going to go bad. Very, very bad.
The Coming of Corporate Tyranny and Privatized Policymaking.
Let me now introduce you to the fifth branch of government, corporations. In a post-COVID world where public health is preeminent over every sphere of authority including our own Constitution, public policy is now being privatized and private property rights are being construed to mean that business owners can now regulate the healthcare of both their employees and consumers. We are entering into new territory and for the most part, it seems that both the left and right sides of the aisles are just fine with it.
Current legislative sessions across the country have been filled with lively debate regarding vaccines and the use of vaccine passports both by government entities and by businesses who are opting to make decisions on healthcare a requirement for goods and services. And even in the most conservative of states, it seems to be a difficult premise to accept that bodily autonomy is a basic human right. These arguments are not new of course. Groups across the country have been fighting for legislation to protect medical freedom for years. But now with the dawn of medical overlords like Fauci, the debate has taken center stage.
“My body, my choice” has a whole new meaning. And we now use language like, “no one has a right to make me sick,” which is typically aimed at the supposedly evil individual who makes a personal decision not to wear a mask or not to take a vaccine.
One of the most contentious debates now surrounds the use or the requirement for using vaccine passports. One argument amongst conservatives is that businesses should be able to require anything of their customers as a requirement for entry, or for the privilege of accessing the goods and services of that business. After all, we believe in the free market and the rights of property owners to make their own decisions and refuse services to whomever they choose. But what about the basic human rights of every individual? Are the rights of business owners superior to the rights of each individual? Or, are they not one and the same? We have long accepted in America, especially since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that discrimination against individuals based solely on their race and sex amongst other things is wrong and should not be tolerated.
Again in 1990, we passed the Americans with Disabilities Act demanding equal access for those with disabilities to goods and services and went so far as to put financial obligations on private property owners who engage in certain types of business to make the appropriate accommodations. Certainly, some might argue that these regulations could be unconstitutional in terms of how the Founders may have interpreted liberty and the rights of property owners. And that is a fair argument and debate. However, these policies of nondiscrimination have been woven into the fabric of who we are as Americans and in my opinion, hold to the notions of individual and civil liberties that our Constitution was written to secure.
But suddenly, we are accepting the premise that businesses are not, or ought not to be regulated in any way and that private property rights now give a business owner absolute rights in terms of the policies it creates over the general public. And frankly, this is a winning solution for elected officials because now the burdens and consequences of policymaking have been lifted and transferred to private individuals who are unelected and unaccountable to the public. It is the perfect recipe for a new kind of tyranny that insulates the government, yet subjects an unsuspecting population to rules and regulations that I believe the majority of Americans reject.
Leaders like DeSantis seem to see this for what it really is and have challenged the notion that corporations truly hold this kind of power over the public. In his latest executive order, he restricted businesses in the state of Florida from having the ability to arbitrarily deny goods and services to individuals through the use of vaccine passports in the state. Similarly, the Alabama Senate has unanimously passed a bill that carries the same types of restrictions on businesses.
But in Tennessee, big business and healthcare oligarchies reign supreme and seem to have the GOP establishment in their back pocket, including the Governor. And Texas seems to be moving the same direction in terms of choosing that the supposed rights of business owners are something unique and independent of the liberties that we are all meant to enjoy.
Does being “pro-business” mean that in no circumstance it would be appropriate to place restrictions on business? Do states not require some businesses to be licensed in order to engage in commerce? Are businesses not required to pay taxes? Do businesses now not have to accommodate for disabilities and ignore the civil rights of fellow Americans? In light of these questions, the idea that it would be burdensome for a business owner to respect the medical privacy of consumers is absurd.
Let’s face it. Every federal law, every law in state statute, and every ordinance on the books in a municipality is in essence a restriction on liberty. Liberty with no restriction at its conclusion is anarchy. This is precisely why we are a nation of laws. These limited restrictions on liberty are necessary to preserve some amount of liberty for all to enjoy. And without these restrictions or laws, liberty would certainly be but a dream for many leaving only the powerful to enjoy its benefits.
In this new era of corporate tyranny ushered in by the cry for public health, we are creating a new class warfare between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Corporations across the country are busy already putting policies in place that create differing benefit structures for employees based on these new classes of individuals. Many are having to make the choice between their career and submitting to an experimental gene therapy as a requirement for employment. And consumers now face being shut out of large portions of the economy should the use of vaccine passports continue to be accepted for not only travel but also in other places of public accommodation such as grocery stores and other services that we depend on for everyday life.
This is going to go bad. Very, very bad.
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Gary Humble
Gary Humble