While Americans attempt to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and the panicked reactions by those in power, a nation across the Atlantic is preparing to clamp down a bit tighter. Come February, Germany’s Parliament could impose a “general vaccine mandate.” Could the American left – both the “progressives” and the more “establishment” statists alike – draw inspiration from Germany’s authoritarian ways? For Americans peering abroad at the looming mandate, it could be a look at things to come.
The New Berlin Wall
Angela Merkel (Photo by Michele Tantussi/Getty Images)
Soon to be ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the legal changes after meeting with state and federal leaders. “The situation in our country is serious,” she told reporters in Berlin, calling the coming measures an “act of national solidarity.”
So what awaits the German people next year? Those who don’t get inoculated will be barred from any nonessential stores, restaurants, and sports and cultural venues, she explained. There also will be a nationwide mask requirement, and no one from a household with an unvaccinated person over 14 can meet with more than two people from another home, even in private. Also, to reduce the pressure on hospitals, the sale of fireworks will be prohibited.
The government considers these new measures “a nationwide minimum,” meaning that any of the 16 states could go further so long as they impose at least these restrictions.
But This Is America …
(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Many may well be asking themselves, “Who cares?” The answer is we all should, if for no other reason than the statists in our government could copy the behavior – or, in simpler terms, monkey see, monkey do.
“But this is America,” you might say with an indignant scoff. Yes, it is — but that doesn’t mean quite what it used to. Consider where we are now.
All levels of governments, from national to municipal, have tried to impose upon the people tight restrictions in the name of protecting public health. Many have succeeded. And while the president’s federal mandates are currently stalled in the courts, that doesn’t mean they won’t eventually be deemed constitutional – or, at the very least, necessary.
This lawmaker panic is hardly the only time the government walked all over the people.
The Great Uprising of 1994 – Only Not
Remember the Great Uprising of 1994, when We the People finally said “enough is enough” and overthrew the authoritarian regime that dared pass laws like the federal assault weapons ban (AWB)? For decades, the powers that be imposed more restrictions on guns at the national level, from the National Firearms Act to the Gun Control Act to the Brady Bill. To many, the flat-out ban on the sale of certain semi-automatic weapons should have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.
But perhaps you recall things went differently. That’s because the answer to the question “Will the people defend their own rights?” is, and has for a long time been, a definite “no.” It was “no” in 1934 when the U.S. government responded to the increase in organized crime – itself a legacy of the equally authoritarian debacle known as Prohibition – by enacting the nation’s first federal firearms law beyond the Second Amendment nearly a century and a half after the Constitution and Bill of Rights were enshrined as the law of the land. It was “no” years later when the Gun Control Act of 1968 came into being, and it was “no” in 1994.
There will always be those who refuse to comply. Some will protest, others will try to fight – and, no doubt, be labeled terrorists for their efforts – but most will simply disobey in private, hoping not to get caught. It’s what happened during the AWB from 1994 to 2004 and during the COVID lockdown of 2020. Should the statist left that once again rules the roost look across at Germany and be inspired, We the People will grumble. We’ll complain and perhaps even threaten – and some will simply disobey, whether out in the open or in secret.
~ Read more from James Fite.
