New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy answered questions on Thursday (10/14/21) on the possibility of mandating vaccines. Brent Johnson reports for NJ.com:
Gov. Phil Murphy told NJ Advance Media on Thursday he likes the idea of New Jersey following in New York City’s footsteps by requiring people show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to dine in a restaurant or attend an entertainment event.
But, the Democratic governor said, he’s stopped short of taking that step so far because of lagging vaccination rates in minority communities.
There you have it. Murphy is not hesitating because he’s weighing the balance between protecting public health and his constitutional duty to protect individual rights. He’s hesitating based on the collectivist premise that certain groups he labels “minority communities” -- which usually means “persons of color” -- have lower vaccination rates than non-minorities, meaning, presumably, “white” groups.
“We’re still not punching at the way we need to punch in Black and brown communities,” Murphy, who is up for re-election Nov. 2, said during a meeting with The Star-Ledger’s editorial board in Newark. “We’re doggedly on that. We’ve made progress. But I don’t feel we’re there yet. I don’t want to inadvertently put something in place that’s discriminatory.”
“Punching” is presumably Murphy’s word for persuading. He hasn’t made enough “progress” in punching minority people to get vaccinated, so he doesn’t want to mandate vaccines for fear that that would be “discriminatory.”
Of course, a vaccine mandate is discriminatory no matter what. Groups are made up of individuals. The individual is the smallest and only genuine minority. A vaccine mandate by definition discriminates against any individual not vaccinated. A mandate also violates individual rights. Of course, Murphy doesn’t give a damn about individual rights, the cornerstone of America’s constitution, because he doesn’t give a damn about actual living breathing thinking individual human beings.
Murphy on Thursday repeated what he has said for when it comes to taking sterner measures to contain the pandemic — that “everything” remains “on the table.”
But what are the actual chances he’ll institute vaccine passports or student vaccine mandates?
“I’d say not inconceivable by any means,” Murphy said. “I can’t give you a number, but I actually like the vaccine passport, assuming we got to equity. If it kills me, we’re gonna get to equity. ... It’s on the table and it’s a real option.”
“Equity” is the new buzzword of the Left “woke” crowd. Equality is out. The definition of equity is “fairness or justice in the way people are treated, “ “impartial.” But equity to Murphy and his ilk means equality of statistical outcomes of groups, regardless of the effect on individuals. Fairness, justice, and impartiality doesn’t apply to real people, ikn Murphy’s worldview. But real people are the only entity for whom those terms have any meaning. Group statistics tell you nothing of any particular individual. If Murphy were concerned about minorities, he’d be concerned about individual rights. He is not and does not. Murphy is a racist.
There is another injustice in the kind of mandate Murphy admires: It requires restaurants and other private businesses to do the government’s job of enforcing the law. This is the same cynical tactic that the Texas Abortion law uses -- it deputizes private vigilantes to enforce the law. Except this is worse. NYC is leving fines against private restaurants that don't "comply" with Mayor Bill de Blasio's order. In New York City, and in New Jersey if Governor Murphy “gets to equity," private businesses and other hosts of entertainment events are forced into demanding proof of vaccination from their customers, whether they want to or not, under threat of ruinous fines. It’s a gross injustice and an inversion of American governance principles.
Governor Phil Murphy has shown that he doesn’t respect the U.S. or NJ constitutions. He shows in this news conference that he is a collectivist who doesn’t respect individual rights. He has plainly shown that he is a racist.
But here’s the horrible irony of Murphy’s delay in implementing a vaccine mandate. If Murphy truly believes that a mandate is a way to “contain the pandemic,” then he is deliberately failing to take actions he knows will reduce COVID cases, thus willing to let people get sick and possibly die unnecessarily for the sake of his vane quest for the chimera of “racial equity.” Is this fair to the people of NJ? To date, NJ has recorded over 1,000,000 cases and nearly 25,000 deaths from the pandemic that Murphy claims a vaccine mandate can contain. If you or a loved one gets COVID, or dies, does it matter whether you are part of a “minority” community? A non-minority community? What color your skin is? According to Murphy, it does. Personally, I oppose vaccine mandates. I point out this irony because it offers a window into Murphy's moral soul. He's putting political correctness above human health and life. This is not just wokism gone mad. It is mainstream wokism.
There is no justification for a vaccine mandate. Vaccines are widely available for anyone who wants the protection. For those who don’t, they are voluntarily assuming the risk as is their right. The important matter of people who have achieved vaccine-level immunity through COVID infection isn’t even considered, as it should. A mandate is an unjustified, unwarranted restriction on our freedom and a gross violation of individual rights.
Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is over. It has evolved into an endemic. But these are not considerations that matter to collectivists and power-lusters like Phil Murphy. The pandemic is a useful excuse for Murphy to continue his health emergency that grants him his unconstitutional extraordinary powers of rule by dictat.
Related Reading:
NJ Governor Murphy’s COVID-19 Double Standard Toward the Demonstrators
Governor Murphy Doubles Down on his Double Standard
No comments:
Post a Comment