There's Nothing More Pro-American Than Getting Vaccinated
Get Vaccinated against Disinformation peddled by Religious Extremists
There was a letter to the editor in last week’s Photo News from Jack C. Collins, MSG, US Army Retired.
There are a bunch of factual inaccuracies in his letter that I’d like to share with you. Especially since Jack’s letter was written in support of Monroe’s new Acting Supervisor and Town Councilwoman, Dorey Houle in her upcoming race for the State Senate.
Residents of Monroe, Woodbury, and most of Orange County should pay attention to this, as we are all residents of New York State’s 42nd District.
Dorey Houle’s position on vaccine mandates and “religious freedoms” should be scrutinized in light of a larger Christian Nationalist movement that poses a danger to our Democracy.
Here’s Why Jack Is Wrong About Vaccine Mandates
1. Jack doesn’t like vaccine mandates. That’s the key piece of legislation he highlights in his letter, passed by Senator Skoufis. Jack cites the First Amendment to the Constitution, which is a popular conservative tactic. They’ll tell you the Constitution is the last word on everything, but that’s not really how things work.
That’s because the Supreme Court has the right to interpret the Constitution, and if Congress doesn’t like the court’s interpretation, they can amend the constitution to overturn what the Supreme Court has said.
So, first things first: The Constitution is not The Bible.
The Constitution is a living work. One that is constantly changing. When you hear, “But the Constitution says …” you should know that what’s to follow is probably bullshit.
If you want evidence of this, look at the overturning of Roe v. Wade despite the Constitution’s (implied) right to Privacy found within the Bill of Rights’s 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 9th Amendments.
Another example is what we see right now with the 14th Amendment. It pretty clearly bars former President Trump from holding office after a bipartisan congressional committee found him responsible for an act of insurrection.
One final example: The Governor of Texas is currently ignoring the Constitution. He doesn’t like how it was interpreted by the Supreme Court as it relates to the border. So, it’s important that we not take Christian Nationalists who hold up the Constitution as a sacred text at their word when they clearly ignore it when it suits them.
2. The Supreme Court ruled in 1905’s Jacobson v. Massachusetts that the States can enforce vaccine mandates. Period. Full stop. This case has NOT been overturned, and most recently during the pandemic, the Supreme Court cited the Jacobson case to turn back attempts by Christian Nationalists to overturn vaccine mandates.
3. Jack states in his letter, “I would hope that every Judeo-Christian person in his district votes him [Senator Skoufis] out next November by double digits.” Jack claims to be from Monroe. One reason I doubt this is because we have 170 regular attendees who frequent the Islamic Center on Orange Turnpike for prayer. So “Judeo-Christian” is a pretty exclusionary statement to make. What’s the implication here? That those 170 people don’t matter because they don’t share Jack’s Christian Nationalist views?
4. It’s absolutely true that Senator James Skoufis defeated Acting Monroe Town Supervisor Dorey Houle by ~ 1.4% of the vote. For the record, the totals were 49,728 for Skoufis and 48, 296 for Houle according to Ballotpedia. So fair is fair here, Jack is correct that Skoufis won by a slim margin.
5. “Dorey Houle, who barely lost that election, is running against him this November. She has strong religious liberty [Emphasis added] and will work hard to reverse this and much other damage this person has caused in our state.”
This statement is a bit concerning to me, because “religious liberty” here means, “No vaccine mandate.” The opposition to vaccine mandates, funny enough, is anti-American.
That’s because President Washington was one of the first to approve of a federal quarantine. One Congress followed up in 1799 with an additional quarantine during an outbreak of Yellow Fever. In fact, before he was even president, it was General Washington that mandated that his army be inoculated against smallpox.
If not for General Washington’s pro-vaccination position, it’s conceivable we would have lost the war for Independence.
6. Finally, “religious liberty” is a claim that depends on the myth that America was founded as a Christian nation. This isn’t true either.
In fact, during President Washington’s term in office, he signed a peace treaty that said in part, “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion…”
What often gets twisted by Christian Nationalists is the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which Jack quoted in his letter to the editor.
To be clear, the Framers of the Constitution put in the establishment clause for the exact OPPOSITE reason than what Christian Nationalists like to claim.
The point of the Establishment Clause is to make it clear that the government cannot officially recognize any religion over another. The goal being that anyone could come to America and worship how they would like.
The establishment clause does not; however, prohibit the government from taking action to protect all of its citizens, such as the case with vaccine mandates, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court for the last 118 years.
Over 1,000 people in Orange County died from COVID-19.
The true number may never be known because of deaths caused by complications related to COVID that may have been undercounted or not reported at all.
Unfortunately, our vaccination rates remain fairly low as people have grown complacent about the dangers of COVID-19.
But the virus is still with us, and so is vaccination hesitancy. Even if you’re “over COVID”, there are diseases like some Cervical Cancers, which we can now wipe out if everyone gets vaccinated for it.
Measles, Whooping Cough, Mumps, and Chicken Pox are also all on the rise because of anti-vaccination positions peddled by Christian Nationalists.
So, I encourage you all to get vaccinated. Not only against these diseases — especially COVID-19, the Flu, and RSV — but also against disinformation and bullshit peddled by people claiming the constitution protects their “religious liberty.” When it comes to vaccines, there’s nothing more pro-American than getting your shots.