With multiple vaccine mandates looming in the days ahead over both private and public sector workers, millions of Americans must choose whether or not they will be vaccinated. They must decide whether to submit to the decrees of kings and queens or risk facing the swift “justice” that comes to any who dare resist their authoritarian rule. That last sentence sounds like something one would read out of a medieval history book, in which the idea of a democratic republic–where the people rule the rulers–would be a completely foreign concept. But surely a government like this could never take hold in the United States of America⏤right? Yet, this is precisely the ground upon which the future of this nation stands–or falls–at this very moment.

Ground Zero is most often thought of as the place where 3,000 people lost their lives on the morning of September 11th, when foreign terrorists used commercial aircraft to bring the people of New York City and a nation at large to its knees. Twenty years later, many of those same New Yorkers and Americans find themselves once again on their knees, this time praying to God for direction as to what to do next. The perpetrators terrorizing them in this instance, however, do not inflict their wrath with blades and burning buildings, nor do they come from foreign lands, but rather, they impose their will upon the masses under the guise of “representatives of the public”–representatives who, with but a simple stroke of a pen, sign off on compulsory mandates that trample on the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.

There are some who continually resist this government overreach, though there are many more who have chosen to give in against their wishes. Take NYC teachers for example: On August 23rd Mayor Bill de Blasio said that if teachers did not get vaccinated by September 27th, they would then find themselves out of a job. Teachers responded by filing lawsuits but ultimately wound up losing most of them in court.

As the 27th drew near, the unvaxxed teachers knew a decision had to be made. Would they hand power over their lives to a central government, or would they fight back by thumbing their nose to those who would control them? Would they give up their medical freedom and allow themselves to be injected with a largely untested vaccine, or would they refuse the vaccine and lose the way they earn a living? The results were shocking: Out of the original approximated 37,000 staff members who held off from taking the vaccine, only about 4,000 remained resolute in protecting their freedoms by continuing to refuse to take the shot. The others gave in without much of a fight. It is indeed interesting to see how those who have lived under the blessings of freedom, for which many have bled and died, can so easily give it away to tyrants.

So, what did this succumbing of the masses do to Mayor de Blasio? Well, it emboldened him–so much so that he was bragging to the press about how he could use the power of the government to overcome the will of the people to get what he wanted. Indeed, he unashamedly said so and doubled down on it on several occasions. The mayor was confident and ultimately correct in calling the teachers bluff, and in doing so, went on to encourage other governors and mayors to do the same. 

Losing a job could be devastating to a family, especially in a single-parent home⏤a situation that many parents are faced with. In their eyes, risking the possible adverse effects of the vaccine is worth being able to keep feeding their families. That’s understandable, but the fact that many of these people had no one to call on in their hour of need says something about the state of our society, but I digress.

Interestingly, the route some other teachers and staff took was never actually to get the shot, but rather, make it seem as though they did. They either bought fraudulent vaccine cards or found a doctor willing to squirt the shot in the trash receptacle and still process them as if they had actually received the vaccine. To some, it would appear these workers had successfully gamed the system–they were able to keep their jobs while still not taking the jab after all. And the reality is that yes, they did game the system. The problem is that they did so at the expense of their freedom and everyone else’s freedom. This only adds to the numbers of those who fall in line with the mandate and shows the dictators in charge how much power they have and how much more they can take over the people. It teaches them what to target and how to get people to comply.

These “leaders” don’t care if people are really vaccinated or not. They are thrilled to see how the public is caving under the pressure they’ve mounted. After all, when looking at the progression of this whole pandemic it becomes exceedingly clear that science is not what’s being followed⏤it’s the capitulation of the public to the will of the authority that really matters most to government leaders. 

What all of these teachers and other workers fail to understand is how much power they actually have. Think about it: If all of the unvaxxed (and freedom-loving vaxxed) teachers, medical workers, pilots, police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, etc.… just banded together to refuse the vaccine, the ruling bodies would be unable to mandate anything. Mass firings would result in societal chaos. Crime would rise, fires would be untamed, patients would die, children wouldn’t learn, garbage would fill the streets, travel and food supply would be disrupted, etc. The public would quite literally have the politicians’ heads. These workers also fail to understand what giving up their freedoms can lead to–where it will take them and their families future. They neglect to recognize what a future America, where a select few dictate every move people make, would look like.

Perhaps because America has never had to experience the atrocities that come with authoritarian control, it doesn’t value the freedom it currently possesses. Maybe when the average American reads in history books about the devastating effect socialism has had on nations throughout history, it’s just a story to them. Perhaps when they see the images of what is going on in Venezuela and Cuba on TV, they only see them as just that⏤images. They think nothing like that could actually happen here. Not in the land of the free and home of the brave.

That day is already here. They’re just not seeing it yet.

This is a time of reckoning. Will you fight for the core values that make the United States of America what it is, or will you give in to those who would control you? Will history look back and say that you are the reason we still enjoy the blessings that freedom provides, or will history note that it was at this time when the American flag was buried.