Editor’s Note: From The Back Forty is Liberty Nation’s longest-running and most popular weekly column. Capturing the “truth” each week from heartlanders in Fly Over states, Liberty Nation gives voice to the hard-working Americans otherwise ignored by the coastal elites.
Well, it’s official: Mask-enforcement, also known to some as shaming, has morphed into a vaccination push. Heartlanders and flyover folks – who tend to follow the golden rule of live and let live – have their collective hackles raised in defiance of being told what’s good for them.
Several states have ditched the pandemic public relations tool named peer pressure and have changed tack – raising the stakes in what must be a national competition to jab the most people. Now the old bitties in beauty shops, truckers on the roads, and farmers and ranchers are hopping mad – or at least seriously annoyed.
Truth be told, many people are getting vaccinated – a personal choice for a variety of reasons. But it seems the immediate rush to said virus inoculation is petering out, and governors are rushing to outdo each other by offering impressive incentives.
Hey Buddy, Wanna Jab?
You got your prepaid card, cash, or bribes of sweepstakes, my friends. What’s your pleasure? In New Mexico, blinking highway signs on the main-drag corridor of I-25 announce $100 in cold, hard cash for participating. Supplies have exceeded demand: So now what? How about a $250,000 raffle drawing for those who have completed the dosages?
The Swamp’s Democrat mayor, Muriel Bowser, hosted a shot and beer event for walk up seekers of the elixir. Still, James Harris in Ohio wondered why anyone would do this: “I’d rather just drink a Corona, chase it with a shot of Jack Daniels and call it good.”
About that time, Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois came up with a doozy of a plan to attract jabees: Allow bars and restaurants to give free drinks to happy and secure vaccinated Illinoisans for six months. A head-scratcher for Chicagoan Jon Jay, who asks, “Doesn’t this violate Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPA)? If they know who got the vaccine?”
[bookpromo align=”left”] Not to be outdone, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, in desperate need of a new set of friends, said, “hold my Emmy.” He promptly upped the ante, announcing that New Yorkers who get their shots at a local ballpark would be eligible for Mets and Yankees ticket vouchers. If that doesn’t make one run to the nearest corner for a poke, perhaps a free ticket to Liberty Island or a Public Theater annual membership will be a worthy reward.
Of course, Governor Gavin Newsom of California is rolling out the red carpet of generosity by dangling a $1.5 million carrot for those willing to give the cure a shot – no pun intended. The dapper and dashing Newsom is handing out prepaid $50 grocery cards as well. “He might want to start with California’s massive and untenable homeless population,” as Iowan Julie Renfro advises.
Alarm Bells
A free dinner with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Alcoholic beverages. Savings Bonds. What the heck is this all about these days? According to those doling out the cash, food, and fun, it’s about getting the country back to normal. Others feel the need to say, “whoa, Nellie” and wait and see. As Sidney Rantineer of Illinois put it, “there is one absolute truth to the frenzy to vaccinate America: It’s in your face much like the maskholes. It’s a bipartisan bribery effort in every state with few exceptions.”
Well, that opinion on social media may have broken the internet this week.
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Read more from Sarah Cowgill.
