Marcus Clintonius
My teaching career in Massachusetts is about to come to an
end. I’m not retiring. Rather, I am now one of the “refuseniks.” I refuse to
show proof of vaccination (or booster shot) to the two schools where I have
been employed for over 20 years.
I have not requested an accommodation on religious or
medical grounds because that would implicitly acknowledge the legitimacy of
their demand. Instead, I have sent a statement of my refusal to comply containing
the reasons why and declaring my intention to continue teaching. Their demand
is unlawful and doesn’t even deserve lip service. The substance of my statement
is contained in this commentary.
COVID vaccine mandates are indeed unlawful, and will be
struck down by the Supreme Court in the days to come (hopefully). No one has
the right to demand information about my medical history -- let alone require
me to inject a drug that is not a vaccine in any conventional meaning of the
word. It doesn’t prevent getting COVID, nor does it prevent spreading the
infection, as evidenced by the huge proportion of the vaccinated among the newly-infected.
There are zero long-term studies of the adverse effects of
these experimental “vaccines.” But there is mounting data on known serious and
fatal adverse reactions... all for a
virus with a fatality rate of at most 0.5% for those under 65 and 0.008% for
our students aged 20-24. That translates to 1 fatality per 12,500 students who
potentially contract COVID (and for younger students under 20 the fatality rate
is a miniscule 0.003%, corresponding to 1 fatality per 33,333). Flipping the
percents gives survival rates of 99.5% for 60-64 year-olds, 99.992% for 20-24
year-olds, and 99.997% for those under 20.*
The choice of whether or not to vaccinate is not a straightforward one-to-one comparison
between the health risks associated with contracting COVID versus the
probability of an adverse reaction to the vaccine -- it is (1) the probability
of contracting the virus MULTIPLIED by (2) the rate of serious consequences
from the virus, against the probability of developing a serious heart condition
or suffering a stroke, paralysis, blood clot, fertility problem, or damage to
the immune system, etc. (it’s a long list) from taking the jab.
Regardless, navigating between the two choices is a decision
that is mine and mine alone to make. Not a teachers’ union, not a college
president -- nor a mayor, governor, president or bureaucrat such as Anthony
Fauci, Rochelle Walensky or Francis Connors.
We are a constitutional republic, and only our elected
representatives have the power to legislate such an edict.
Using the pretext of a health emergency, a state of medical
apartheid is being implemented -- handmaiden to a vile authoritarianism rapidly
creeping over the Western democracies in Europe, Australia and regions of the
U.S.
This is Austria today, which recently implemented the
following:
1. Vaccine mandate for everyone
by Feb. 1.
2. A penalty of 3,600 Euros for
failing to comply, to be repeated quarterly. (The median salary in Austria is
3,790 Euros/month.)
3. Increase to the maximum
prison sentence for contempt-of-court from 6 weeks to 1 year. (An amendment to
exempt those thus charged for failing to comply with the vaccine mandate voted
down.)
4. Those found in contempt of court for failing to comply
with the vaccine mandate to be housed in separate facilities from the regular
(vaccinated) prison population –i.e., internment camps for the unvaccinated.
In the UK, the government is preparing to roll out their
digital identity tracking system (IDVT – Digital Identity Document Validation
Technology) enforcing, believe it or not, “right-to-rent” and “right-to-work”
provisions, following a vaccine passport mandate rushed through Parliament in
December in response to the Omicron “crisis”.
It shouldn’t be that hard to connect the dots.
Though the Australians, Brits, Austrians and Germans etc.
may have surrendered their liberty cheaply --more resistance is expected from
us. There’s a historical reason for this. The nations of Europe were conceived
in feudalism and serfdom. Their centuries-long evolution to democracy
recognizes rights granted by the
State to the individual. In the U.S.,
this principle is reversed. Our founding constitutional documents recognize a
nation conceived in individual
liberty -- our “God-given natural rights.” We, as citizens, grant to the government only certain
restrictions on those rights that we
deem necessary for the protection, health, and prosperity of the commonwealth –
for our “common weal.”
This usurpation of liberty arises from the transference of authority
from elected representatives to unelected bureaucrats. Who is this Dr. Fauci
who dictates where we should shop, where we can work, and even who we can
invite into our homes? I didn’t vote for him. Did you?
The vaccine mandates, and what they portend, are repugnant
to America’s foundational political values of self-government and individual
liberty. This is America. We don’t do fascism. We do freedom and liberty. I
refuse to “show my papers.”
To the schools: This should be a no-brainer. There is a
clear right and wrong here, and one clear course of action: Do the right thing…
and stop doing the fascist thing.
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*[https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/11/18/covid-infection-fatality-rates-sex-and-age-15163]
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