by Elizabeth Ayoub and Patrice Johnson | September 20, 2023
Some might dismiss the suggestion that we are on a slippery slope and have been since 2021. A fallacious argument, they might call it, containing an unjustified premise or ignoring relevant evidence. Well, two things are certain: Progressive lawmakers all claim to desire to promote the public health, and they have, likewise, all taken the same sacred oath of office to support the Constitution of the United States.
Back in January 2021 when oath-taking President Biden declared a national public health crisis, he issued an executive order extending “nationwide restrictions on evictions and foreclosures.” Landlords protested that the president had no authority to deprive them of their livelihoods. But the President’s self-named American Rescue Plan sounded caring and wise, so the population accepted the EO in silence.
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A few months later on September 2021, Biden ordered all members of the military and federal employees to take COVID-19 vaccines. Again, some citizens sounded the alarm that our country was on a slippery slope. A few pariah soldiers were forced to leave the military for refusing to take the jab. Still the legacy media and experts pooh-poohed the protestations. The claims of government overreach were hyperbole, they said, fallacious arguments.
Doctors who prescribed ivermectin for their patients to combat COVID-19 lost their licenses in the name of the public health crisis. Misinformation was disallowed, and all were instructed to “follow the science.” Further down we slid, but to call this a slippery slope was, hmm, a fallacious argument.
The Biden administration with the aid of an alphabet soup of government agencies dropped a cone of silence over postings on Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and other online platforms. Whispers spread that We the People were on a slippery slope toward losing our First Amendment guarantee of free speech. Where were we to find the truth? citizens asked. Were we to allow the government to control our words and thoughts?
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A pandemic governor, most assuredly, must pass or create laws: Wear a mask. Stay at home. Beware of celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas with loved ones. Get the jab or lose your job. Close the schools. Churches? Restaurants? Small businesses? Lock them down! Big box stores were christened to stay open; small businesses were shuttered. Nursing homes locked their inmates away from family members while the governor ordered COVID patients, when discharged from the hospital, to return to their nursing homes.
These inconsistent actions could not possibly be politically motivated, right? No slippery slope to see here.
When challenged, those who made the tyrannical proclamations denounced those who begged to differ. Elected officials and bureaucrats, formerly held in check by having to face, in person, those who elected them into office, transformed into dictators rifling commands.
No matter that each of these elected officials had raised their right hands and pledged, “I do solemnly swear that I will uphold the Constitution of the United States [or the constitution of Michigan].”
The United States Constitution, written in the hand of Founding Founders who managed to fight off the heavy boot of authoritarian rule, made clear three separate and equal branches of government. Each had its own authority. Each was to serve as a check and balance on the other two branches.
In the interest of a public health emergency, however, the government kicked into full throttle to stop the spread of mal-, dis, and misinformation. This effort itself became a pandemic, and the bobsled raced down the slippery slope at breakneck speed.
So we come to this place
Almost no mandate (capricious order) was passed into law the way the U.S. Constitution or state constitution requires. But as the mortally-wounded Mercutio uttered in Romeo and Juliet, 'Twas enough. It was enough to undermine the rule of law, to make contracts and justice and laws become relative. Squishy.
Now, the left is using the relaxed laws to write their own rules. They are deeming protections under the Constitution as relative too.
Take the New Mexico Governor, Michele Lujan. In the name of public health, she barred the open and concealed carry of guns within the city limits of Albuquerque. A federal judge stayed the governor’s order.
Masks, vaccines, rent payments, student loans, the censoring printed or electronic information on public platforms, stripping licenses from doctors who do not practice as the Federal agency dictates, taking guns from law-abiding individuals, chipping away election laws designed to preserve election integrity in the name of a pandemic—These are the rotten parts of a country constructed to honor the unalienable rights of citizens to live free and pursue happiness.
The good news is this: In each of the instances above, the actions of tyrant officials were declared unconstitutional.
But wait. If you think the battle is won. Think again.
Last week Michigan Representative Kara Hope (D) from the 74th District parroted the New Mexico governor’s phrase during a House Elections bill hearing. Hope declared, straight-faced, “No constitutional right is absolute.”
Grab your skis, friends. We’ll meet at the top of the slippery slope this winter. Or, better yet, we might save some of our tax dollars if we skied, instead, to the voting place and cast ballots for those who will honor their oath to support something they should understand and defend as absolute: the Constitution.
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