Posts Tagged ‘vaccine mandate’

The Right of Conscience is being obliterated by vaccine mandates

Posted: November 18, 2021 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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The right of conscience is one of our most fundamental God-given natural rights, so fundamental that it is one of the rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights.  The framers and ratifyers of Bill of Rights universally understood the right conscience to be an integral component of the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment. 

For more than a century prior to the drafting of the Bill Rights, the right of conscience was considered to be one of our most important rights.  This is abundantly clear from this quotation from A Letter concerning Toleration by John Locke, which also provides a very detailed definition of the right of conscience. 

Now that the whole jurisdiction of the magistrate reaches only to these civil concernments, and that all civil power, right, and dominion, is bounded and confined to the only care of promoting these things; and that it neither can nor ought in any manner to be extended to the salvation of souls, these following considerations seem unto me abundantly to demonstrate.

First. Because the care of souls is not committed to the civil magistrate, any more than to other men. It is not committed unto him, I say, by God; because it appears not that God has ever given any such authority to one man over another, as to compel any one to his religion. Nor can any such power be vested in the magistrate by the consent of the people, because no man can so far abandon the care of his own salvation as blindly to leave to the choice of any other, whether prince or subject, to prescribe to him what faith or worship he shall embrace. For no man can, if he would, conform his faith to the dictates of another. All the life and power of true religion consist in the inward and full persuasion of the mind; and faith is not faith without believing. Whatever profession we make, to whatever outward worship we conform, if we are not fully satisfied in our own mind that the one is true, and the other well pleasing unto God, such profession and such practice, far from being any furtherance, are indeed great obstacles to our salvation. For in this manner, instead of expiating other sins by the exercise of religion, I say, in offering thus unto God Almighty such a worship as we esteem to be displeasing unto him, we add unto the number of our other sins those also of hypocrisy, and contempt of his Divine Majesty.

In the second place. The care of souls cannot belong to the civil magistrate, because his power consists only in outward force; but true and saving religion consists in the inward persuasion of the mind, without which nothing can be acceptable to God. And such is the nature of the understanding, that it cannot be compelled to the belief of anything by outward force. Confiscation of estate, imprisonment, torments, nothing of that nature can have any such efficacy as to make men change the inward judgment that they have framed of things.

No author influenced the framers of the Constitution and Bill of Rights more than John Locke.  He wrote this letter in 1689.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason in 1776, was a primary model for the Bill of Rights.  As you can see from this quote, the right of conscience was an integral component of free exercise of religion

That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other.

Many states agreed to ratify the Constitution only if a Bill of Rights was included. Each of the states proposed very similar amendments.  The next quote is from Virginia Ratifying Convention.  All of these ideas were incorporated in the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment.

Twentieth, That religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, and therefore all men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by Law in preference to others.

This next quote is from the Transcripts of the debates from the House of Representatives during the drafting of the Bill of Rights.   This particular debate took place on August 15, 1789.  From this quote it is self evident that the right of conscience is an integral component of the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment.

The House again went into a Committee of the Whole on the proposed amendments to the constitution, Mr. Boudinot in the Chair.The fourth proposition being under consideration, as follows:

Article 1. Section 9. Between paragraphs two and three insert “no religion shall be established by law, nor shall the equal rights of conscience be infringed.”

Mr. Sylvester had some doubts of the propriety of the mode of expression used in this paragraph. He apprehended that it was liable to a construction different from what had been made by the committee. He feared it might be thought to have a tendency to abolish religion altogether.

Mr. Vining suggested the propriety of transposing the two members of the sentence.

Mr. Gerry said it would read better if it was, that no religious doctrine shall be established by law.

Mr. Sherman thought the amendment altogether unnecessary, inasmuch as Congress had no authority whatever delegated to them by the Constitution to make religious establishments; he would, therefore, move to have it struck out.

Mr. [Daniel] Carroll As the rights of conscience are, in their nature, of peculiar delicacy, and will little bear the gentlest touch of governmental hand; and as many sects have concurred in opinion that they are not well secured under the present constitution, he said he was much in favor of adopting the words. He thought it would tend more towards conciliating the minds of the people to the Government than almost any other amendment he had heard proposed. He would not contend with gentlemen about the phraseology, his object was to secure the substance in such a manner as to satisfy the wishes of the honest part of the community.

Mr. Madison said, he apprehended the meaning of the words to be, that Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any manner contrary to their conscience. Whether the words are necessary or not, he did not mean to say, but they had been required by some of the State Conventions, who seemed to entertain an opinion that under the clause of the Constitution, which gave power to Congress to make all laws necessary and proper to carry into execution the Constitution, and the laws made under it, enabled them to make laws of such a nature as might infringe the rights of conscience and establish a national religion; to prevent these effects he presumed the amendment was intended, and he thought it as well expressed as the nature of the language would admit.

The Bill of Rights does not restrain the state governments in any way.  The constitution of each state contains a Bill of Rights which protects the rights of the people living in that state from abuses of the state governments.  Here is Article II of the Massachusetts Constitution, which protects the right of conscience of everyone in this state

It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship.

As you can see from all of the quotes I’ve provided, the right of conscience of every single individual is an absolute right.  All that matters is the conscience of each and every individual.  Like all rights, the permission of the government is not needed for each individual to exercise their right of conscience.  If government permission was needed it would not be a right.  Any restrictions placed on the right of conscience is an infringement of the right of conscience because it is a fundamental right.

The right of conscience is not a collective right, assigned by the government collectively to those who belong only to a certain church or religion. That would violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. It is an individual right, based solely on the conscience of each individual, government approval in neither needed or warranted.

The federal government is trampling on the right of conscience of every individual with Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate because extreme restrictions are placed on this right,  States are doing the same.  Written permission from states and the federal government is needed for those seeking religious exemptions from vaccine mandates.  That is most definitely an infringement of the right of conscience of everyone. 

Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate is unconstitutional in the extreme

Posted: November 11, 2021 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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Joe Biden, the illegitimate president of the United States, issued his federal vaccine mandate last week.  The actual text proved to be just as tyrannical, unscientific, and unconstitutional, as we’ve all been led to expect.   It is impossible to fully chronicle all of the ways this egregiously oppressive mandate violates the Constitution of the United States in anything short of a book.  In this article I will concentrate on the most important few.

I am far from alone when ot comes to individuals and accurate news sites documenting the ways that Biden’s vaccine mandate violates the US Constitution.  Check out this article, Mark Levin: Vaccine Mandate ‘Unconstitutional’ — ‘Federal Government Doesn’t Have Plenary Police Powers — The States Do’, from one of the most accurate constitutional scholars I’ve encountered.

LEVIN: What’s happening throughout this country — listening to those wonderful patriots there — is that the government is weeding out people who just don’t go along with authoritarianism. They’re weeding out people through these vaccine mandates. Many people who have the natural immunity, they’re going to be fired with an unconstitutional legal mandate from Joe Biden. The federal government doesn’t have plenary police powers. The states do.

And OSHA has no statutory authority, that is the Labor Department, over vaccines. If any department did and they don’t, it would be HHS. And notice they didn’t issue any regulation. So this will be defeated. But it’s the mentality, it’s the totalitarian mentality.

Mark Levin is absolutely correct when he states that the Federal government does not have the authority to issue this vaccine mandate, or any type of mandate.  He is also correct that the individual states may have the authority under our constitutional system, the deciding factor would be the constitution of each state. 

The United States Constitution did not create an all powerful national government, which has complete control over the states.  Instead the Constitution created a mostly federal government where the states are generally sovereign nations, tied together by a weak central government. 

The federal government is only granted a discreet set of clearly defined powers, which are plainly spelled out, or enumerated, in the Constitution.  All of the powers granted to the federal government are listed in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, in the section titled Powers of Congress.  All powers not granted to federal government, and not specifically denied to the states in Article 1 Section 10, remain with the individual states.  This is discussed in great detail in Federalist Paper Number 45 by James Madison

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected.

The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State. The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the State governments, in times of peace and security.

OSHA should not exist at all because the United States Constitution does not grant the federal government the power to regulate businesses in any way.  The federal government granted itself that power by distorting the plain text of the Interstate Commerce Clause, which only grants the federal government the authority to regulate the large scale flow of commerce between the individual states, not the commerce inside of each state.  Since OSHA should not exist, it does not have the authority to issue a vaccine mandate.  As you can see from Article 1 Section 8, Congress is not granted the authority to issue vaccine mandates, therefore the federal government does not have the power to do so. 

The United States Constitution granted each branch of the federal government separate and discrete powers.  The Legislative Branch rights laws, the Executive branch executes laws, and the Judiical Branch interprets laws.  In Federalist Paper Number 47 James Madison commented on dangers of the branches of the federal government ignoring the separation of powers

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. 

In the legislation that created OSHA, or any subsequent legislation, that unconstitutional body is not granted the authority to mandate vaccines.  Joe Biden is violating the separation of powers by rewriting the OSHA laws to grant that body the authority to do so.

The Kentucky Resolutions draft by Thomas Jefferson. written in 1798, is a fantastic resource for understanding the United States Constitution.  In section 1, Jefferson discusses the relationship between powers granted to federal government versus powers retained by the states. He also mentions clearly what happens when the federal government oversteps its authority.

Resolved_, That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.

In Section 9 Jefferson laws out the best method for states to deal with unconstitutional usurpations by the federal government.  It is called Nullification, which the states can do themselves, completely independent of the Supreme Court, which has abandoned the Constitution many decades ago.

Resolved_, That a committee of conference and correspondence be appointed, who shall have in charge to communicate the preceding resolutions to the legislatures of the several States; to assure them that this commonwealth continues in the same esteem of their friendship and union which it has manifested from that moment at which a common danger first suggested a common union: that it considers union, for specified national purposes, and particularly to those specified in their late federal compact, to be friendly to the peace, happiness and prosperity of all the States: that faithful to that compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation: that it does also believe, that to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness or prosperity of these States; and that therefore this commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth: that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the General Government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casus non foederis,) to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits:

With the vaccine mandate the Biden Regime has now become a petty dictatorship

Posted: September 16, 2021 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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With the issuance of this unconstitutional edict Joe Biden crossed over the threshold into a level of tyranny that has only been exhibited in totalitarian dictatorships.  He has now gone further along that path than any president in the history of the United States, which is saying a lot considering the levels of tyranny the people of the United States experienced under Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and Obama.

This one provision of his proclamation violates so many fundamental provisions of the United States Constitution.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work. OSHA will issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to implement this requirement. This requirement will impact over 80 million workers in private sector businesses with 100+ employees.

Nowhere under the Constitution is the federal government granted the authority to mandate that individuals must have a substance injected into their bodies, not even a hypothetical vaccine that is 100 percent safe and 100 percent effective against a seriously deady virus.  Every single individual has the right to decide for themselves what does and does not go into their bodies.  That right is a fundamental component of one of our most important God-given Natural Rights which is Liberty.

Liberty if the freedom to do whatever you want as long as you do not hurt others or interfere with the rights of others. Not getting vaccinated against a disease does not qualify as hurting others because others are free to get the vaccine if they wish and others can protect themselves against a disease by taking proper measures.

The liberty of every individual is protected from the federal government by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.   Here is the text of that amendment

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

The federal government can only compel you to do something you do not wish to do if you are found guilty in a court of law, by a jury, as long as due process is upheld.  The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment offers the same protection against State and local governments.

For the federal government to force millions of Americans to get vaccinated with a vaccine that has not been fully tested and has a relatively high percentage of negative side effects is unconscionable, unconstitutional, and the very definition of tyranny.

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