Opinion: President Biden’s Mandate is Unconstitutional

President Biden’s vaccine mandate is a violation of personal health rights.

President Biden released a statement on Thursday saying businesses with over 100 employees must ensure their workplace is fully vaccinated. If individuals refuse to get the shot, then they must submit themselves to weekly COVID-19 testing.  

Biden then took this a step further and said that businesses that refuse will be fined $14,000 per violation. By doing this, he has taken away private business rights and is now overstepping into an area to assume control of how the business is run.

I am not an anti-vaxxer. I am not actively telling people to abstain from the COVID-19 vaccine. I do not believe in any micro-chip conspiracy. I am simply pro-freedom, pro-personal initiative and therefore, pro-vaccine choice.

This mandate allows the government to operate outside of its constitutional boundaries and infringes on personal freedoms.  

After reading this vaccine mandate, I have a few questions. First, why does Biden believe this mandate is the right thing to do in a free market? Second, why businesses with 100 or more employees? Anyone can catch COVID-19, not just in places where there are 100 employees. Where did this number come from?

My next question while reading this mandate was – what is enough for Biden? This is a vaccine for a virus that has a 97-98% recovery rate and comes at a time when data shows that 70% of U.S. adults who are eligible have been vaccinated.  

Biden’s administration does not care about private businesses’ rights and personal health decisions. Biden’s administration does not care about you. It only cares about power. It only cares about how much control it can attain. 

We see this because, back in December, Biden said he did not believe vaccines should be mandatory, nor should masks. He only said he would encourage them. Then, in July, his press secretary, Jen Psaki, said there would not be a federal vaccine mandate. Even the Biden administration took the position that federal vaccine mandates exceed the constitutional scope of the government.

“That’s not the role of the federal government,” said Psaki. “That is the role that institutions, private sector entities and others may take. That certainly is appropriate.” 

The Biden administration cannot change the role of government simply to fit a political agenda. Biden must be put back in his place. 

The United States Constitution was designed as a limiting device for the government. 

It limits the size and scope of the government. It outlines three basic responsibilities: to protect our rights to life, liberty and property.  

Therefore, the government is only allowed to act within ways that purely protect our rights to those three things. Although a valuable asset in life, healthcare is not a constitutional right. It cannot be enforced through our government. However, Biden is giving power to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to pursue this mandate. 

I have heard comprehensive arguments that vaccinations fall under our constitutional right to life. You can agree that vaccinations save lives but disagree that it is the governments job to enforce them. 

It is the government’s job to make vaccines accessible to Americans in order that we can make the personal decision on whether we want to take them or not. 

By allowing the government to enforce vaccinations, we are saying the government knows our bodies better than we do. If the government is allowed to tell us what we have to put into our bodies, then they can tell what we cannot put into our bodies. 

Where is the line?

By allowing government to have this much access to control our health care choices, what will stop Biden from mandating other items that pose health concerns? Through this line of reasoning, the president can dictate what foods we can or cannot put into our bodies, because they may lead to future health issues. He can impose where we travel, due to certain levels of air pollution that could cause health issues.  By this line of reasoning, the government can mandate anything that could pose a health risk. This is my life, not Biden’s. I decide how to live it. You have the freedom to live your life how you want. You cannot impose your lifestyle choices onto another individual. That is our constitutional right.

In the words of former president Calvin Coolidge, “To live under the constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race.” 

MacKenzie is the opinion editor. Follow her on Twitter at @PeytMacK.