“This is not about freedom or personal choice.” -President Biden, 9/9/2021

In what appeared to be a haphazard address to the American people Thursday afternoon, President Biden unveiled his six-pronged COVID-19 mitigation plan aimed at stopping the spread of the Delta variant. However, instead of offering solutions centered around innovation in healthcare or empowering local governments to determine what health policies work best for their communities, we witnessed a shocking assault on privately-owned businesses, a weaponization of government agencies, and an all-out attack on our most precious rights as individuals.

Biden’s mitigation plan will target millions of unvaccinated Americans by weaponizing the US Department of Labor — meaning people who work at companies with 100 or more employees may now face forcible vaccination, mandatory weekly testing (at a cost yet to be determined), or harsh consequences for their failure to comply. To make matters worse, these harsh consequences for non-compliant employees do not simply end at termination. In many situations, employees who are terminated for declining to be vaccinated will likely be ineligible to collect any unemployment benefits. In an already failing economy and floundering jobs market, the results will be catastrophic.

Outdoing his previous vaccine mandates for Federal government employees, Biden also announced that healthcare workers who work with patients on any type of Federally-funded healthcare plan (Medicare/Medicaid), any teachers who are a part of any Head Start program, as well as ALL government contractors, regardless of their industry, must be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing (at a cost yet to be determined) as a condition of their employment.

This is entirely unacceptable, and we shall not comply.

People may in good faith hold differing opinions over their personal need for the vaccine, and an informed and factual debate about it is entirely beneficial and appropriate. However, what is not up for debate is the right of bodily autonomy. Every individual should have the opportunity to evaluate the evidence and make the choice that they find best suited for themselves. Just like every other medical choice, the choice to be vaccinated is (and should always be) in the hands of the individual. Never should this choice be made by politicians and bureaucrats for other individuals. History is littered with example after grisly example of governments inflicting all sorts of evil on their own populace under the ostensibly benign auspices of health, safety, or “the common good.” We cannot allow our government to take us down that road.

Since the beginning of this presidency, the consistent message coming from the White House is that Americans cannot be trusted to make the best choices for themselves and for their families. We hear that businesses cannot be trusted to operate without heavy-handed micromanagement from the Federal government. We hear that schools cannot be trusted to let parents, administrators, and teachers come together to create a plan that keeps children safe, and in an environment that fosters learning and growth. Americans are tired of fighting for control of their own lives from this administration. Americans deserve to have control over their healthcare, their lives, and their livelihoods.

For 50 years, the Libertarian Party has been the only national political party fighting for all rights of all people all the time. Self-ownership is inherent to our existence and we must be free to choose for ourselves, while accepting responsibility for the consequences of the choices we make. Our support of an individual’s right to choose does not mean that we approve or disapprove of those choices. No individual, group, or government may rightly initiate force against any other individual, group, or government. We stand in defense of the rights of the smallest minority: the individual. The Libertarian Party has been pro-choice on everything since its founding, and we will continue to fight for your freedom every time the state threatens it. We are not government property.

President Biden is wrong. This is 100% about freedom and personal choice. If you want to see a world set free in your lifetime, stand with us today and together we can fight back against these grossly invasive and violative mandates that threaten our most basic and sacred of human rights.