CDC libertarians—the ones who think that lockdowns, restrictions, face masks, social distancing, plexiglass barriers, capacity limits, and the vaccine have helped to slow the spread of COVID-19—have suddenly become great defenders of property rights. Some states, most recently Texas, now have orders or laws that state that government entities and private businesses cannot require proof of vaccination (you know which one) for people to obtain service. I agree with them that government mandates to private businesses are certainly not libertarian or pro-business or pro-property rights. But where have they been for the past year? They have been very quiet about government mandates to businesses regarding lockdowns, restrictions, face masks, social distancing, plexiglass barriers, and capacity limits. Now all of a sudden they are claiming that businesses should have the right to exclude someone who has not gotten the dangerous and unnecessary jab. They have been fairly quiet about businesses having the right in a free society to exclude anyone on any basis, including race and sexual orientation. But all of a sudden, all they can talk about is property rights.

I think that these laws that prohibit private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination are really unnecessary. Businesses know that they would have a terrible time trying to make sure that all of their customers have been vaccinated. I think the real problem is businesses requiring employees to get the vaccine before coming back into the office or before they can take off their face mask at work.

The Best of Laurence M. Vance