I heard a rant on the radio the other day from Joe Scarborough on his MSNBC show accusing people who were skeptical of taking the vaccine of being morons, conspiracy theorists, and just plain stupid. He claimed that they wanted to kill other people, and that's why we needed a vaccine passport so that he and his son, who apparently has a broken immune system can go to a baseball game together. The rant can be found here. Go ahead and listen to it.
Somehow, the rant struck me as off the mark. The more I thought about it, it seemed that either Joe never learned, or had forgotten the idea of Ordered Liberty. Ayn Rand has a philosophy known she called Objectivism, that includes a number of similar concepts, but is missing one thing, which makes it objectionable. That one thing is ones obligation to ones neighbor. Ordered Liberty includes the obligation to one's neighbor, but like everything else, it is not an unlimited obligation.
The framers of the Constitution framed the Bill of Rights around the idea of Ordered Liberty. That ordered liberty is derived from the Bible, where God passed to the Israelites the 10 Commandments. If one could faithfully follow the 10 Commandments in every aspect of one's life, one would effectively govern himself. That is the idea behind ordered liberty. Or, as Jesus put it, the entirety of the Law is to love God with all your heart, and soul and being; and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Because I am a Christian, and I believe in our Creator, I believe he has granted us certain unalienable rights. But if you do not believe, then by observation you can deduce that people have certain rights as natural fact. The government does not grant these rights, because they existed in people long before there were any governments. Now, for sure, governments can try to restrict these rights, and with enough terror, they may scare a solid majority into obeying them. But we still have our rights, they are inalienable.
Among the rights granted by God are life, liberty, and property. These are not exclusive, but they are the most important. The right to life means no one except God (with few exceptions) has the right to take that life from you. You have the liberty to do, and to go, whatever, wherever, whenever, so long as you do not interfere with the rights of another. And since a man is born naked and unarmed, we have to right to produce, or procure and own such tools as are necessary to sustain life. Among those tools might be weapons to hunt game, and defend one's life from those who might try to take it. Thus the Second Amendment.
If you have a right to life, you have an obligation to defend that life. Rights are equal parts liberty and duty. Moreover, you also have a obligation to defend the life of those in your care who may not be able to defend themselves. This is one example where you do have a right to take a life, but it is only under the direst of situations where an attack is taking place that might take your own life unless you act. Remember that "vengeance is mine" says the Lord.
Similarly, though you have a right to property, you do not have the right to take another's property unless you pay an agreed upon price for it. Another corollary of the right to life is the right to the fruits of your own labor. But, if someone asks you to work for him, and is willing to pay you what you feel you are worth, then each of you is receiving the fruits of your labor. The fact that you are entitled to the fruits of your own labor is why slavery is wrong. There is no agreement made. But it is also why indentured servitude may be acceptable. At the same time, because the employer has the freedom to do so, he may pay another worker more than he pays you, and you have no right to complain.
Now, to Joe's rant. He claims that an unvaccinated person might pass the Chinese virus to his son at a baseball game. The data indicate that the prospect of that happening are pretty low. It is outside, and of course we will by then have herd immunity, which means the virus will find few hosts to infect. Most of the people encountered will either have had the virus, or have T-cell immunity from a variant, or will be vaccinated.
But Joe is still worried. I give Joe the benefit of the doubt. Still, Joe is essentially saying that it is the duty of another to look out for his son. Apparently the unvaccinated person, the team owners, and major league baseball itself should look out for his son, because Joe is, what, incompetent to do so? But no, Joe. If your son has an immune deficiency, then you should see to it that your son has a vaccine. If that can't be done, then it is up to YOU Joe, to keep you son away from places where he might contract the virus, if you are so worried about it. Remember, this is a virus that 99.8% of those who contract it survive.
And, no Joe, it is not unreasonable to wonder why a Manhattan style pull-out-all-the-stops effort was made to stop a virus that is a little worse than the seasonal flu? Do you know something hidden from the rest of us? Or are you a collectivist who believes he has the right to the property of others? It is also not unreasonable, given the facts, why every news outlet and agency of the Federal, State and local government is pushing us as hard as they can to get vaccinated? Right now, before you have time to think about it. Didn't Plains Indians used to stampede buffalo over a cliff as a way to harvest them? Are we being buffaloed? Why, Joe?
Dr. Scott Atlas doesn't seem like a wild eyed conspiracy theorist. He seems pretty grounded. Yet he urges caution. America's Front Line Doctors don't seem like conspiracy theorists either. Yet they urge caution too. What about Alex Berenson, Joe? Does he seem like a conspiracy theorist? These and others have noted that this is new, relatively untried technology. Maybe it works, but we don't know the long term effects.
Meanwhile, Joe, forcing someone to get a vaccine in order to work, to participate in commerce, or to travel does begin to sound a lot like Revelation mark of the beast. I don't particularly think it is, but what it is, is Unconstitutional. Remember that you can not force someone to consume anything. This is why, even in marriage, a woman can not be forced to have sex. Isn't a vaccine even more intrusive?
Perhaps, Joe, you should worry more about you and your own, and let every one else worry about themselves. That's ordered liberty.
Update: Over at the American Partisan There is a post that bears upon this topic. Go read it at your convenience.
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