One of the major authoritarian measures adopted at the beginning of this decade in the name of countering coronavirus was “vaccine passports.” These certifications, on paper or in electronic form, that a person had received the government specified minimum number of experimental coronavirus “vaccine” shots were required by select governments across the world for individuals to carry and present at checkpoints in order to go about their activities.
From the beginning, it was clear that the vaccine passports were about creating a caste system in which people who refuse to take experimental coronavirus “vaccines” are subjected to special restrictions on their ability to undertake ordinary activities. In Austria this week, we are witnessing the imposing of an extreme version of such a vaccine passports-based caste system that imposes broad restrictions on the activities of “unvaccinated” individuals.
When government mandates related to experimental coronavirus “vaccines” are thrust on businesses, it is heartening to see businesses refusing to comply. It is especially great to see a business back up its noncompliance with a well-stated, freedom-centered explanation.
One of Robert Higgs’ great contributions to understanding government is his exploration of what he terms the ratchet effect. In a 2011 interview posted at the Mises Institute website, Higgs provided this succinct description of the ratchet effect:
In my work, the ratchet effect describes the characteristic way in which government under modern ideological conditions grows during a perceived national emergency. The government’s size, scope, and power grow abruptly as the government acts to “do something” to allay the threat. Then, as the threat is eliminated or diminished, the government shrinks, but not all the way to the level it would have reached if the crisis had not occurred. Hence, each crisis shifts the government’s growth trajectory to a higher level of size, scope, and power.
Israel has gone further quicker than most governments in pushing people to take experimental coronavirus vaccines and imposing vaccine passports as a requirement for people to go about their daily activities. Last week, Israel Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced that holders of these vaccine passports, called green passes by the government, will be required to take yet another shot of experimental coronavirus “vaccine” — termed a booster shot — and, apparently, keep taking more booster shots and being exposed to additional side-effect risks each additional five to six months or their vaccine passports will be revoked.
If this new requirement can be imposed on people in order for them to keep their vaccine passports operating, there is no limit to the requirements that can be piled on. Israel is making the first move in transitioning from vaccine passports to everything passports.
Francis S. Collins, the director of the United States government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), went full-on authoritarian in his Sunday interview with Jake Tapper at CNN’s State of the Nation. Collins, in the interview, supported in short succession the imposing of several extreme violations of the freedom of people who have chosen not to take experimental coronavirus vaccines — some of which are not even vaccines under the normal meaning of the term.
Use vaccine passports to prevent these individuals from attending public events and entering businesses, fire them from their jobs, and bar them from traveling, Collins championed.
There was some great news last month when the state of Florida won, in a United States district court, a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mandates, including for vaccine passports, under the CDC’s draconian and unprecedented “conditional sailing order” imposed on cruises in the name of countering coronavirus. I provided details about the court decision in an article here.
Unfortunately, late Saturday night — before the district court’s preliminary injunction was set to take effect on Sunday, a panel of three judges of the 11th Circuit decided by a two to one vote to stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal. The appellate court’s decision thus dictates that the CDC’s mandates on cruises, and cruise ship crews and passengers, remain enforceable for the time being.
On Friday, the state of Florida won a court victory against the United State government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The court decision restrained the CDC’s effort to require, in the name of countering coronavirus, that cruise lines implement vaccine passport requirements and various other CDC-defined mandates on cruises.
Who do Americans have to thank for the United States government not subjecting them to a national vaccine passport like those being imposed by national governments in Europe? Megan Redshaw wrote in a Wednesday article at Children’s Health Defense that the credit goes to Ron Paul who, while serving as a member of the US House of Representatives, led the effort to bar the US government from creating for each American a “unique health identifier” number.
Florida has been the primary embarkation location in America for cruises. It is thus a big deal that Ron DeSantis, the state’s governor, is fighting against the United States government’s effort, undertaken via demands placed on cruise lines, to impose vaccine passport requirements for passengers boarding cruises leaving from Florida.