Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, over 1 million Americans are estimated to have died from the virus. Overall, life in the United States has truly never returned to “normal conditions” for many citizens before the pandemic began. Children were forced to “attend” school at home on the computer, and masks were mandated in public throughout cities and towns across the nation. Tense political ramifications resulted from the pandemic, and vaccines were attempted to be mandated by the federal government for public employees before the Supreme Court reversed the policy, calling into question basic rights to medical privacy and individual freedom. In the years since, things within America in terms of the economy and politics have not gotten better. As president Joe Biden nears the completion of his third calendar year in office, working class Americans across are struggling with a skyrocketing cost of living, surging crime rates, a crisis at the southern border, and international chaos.
Truly, while people have short memories, the COVID-19 pandemic was a prime example of the serious power governments wield over their citizens and the increasing willingness of bureaucratic officials to grab as much power as possible while enacting draconian measures and infringing upon the freedoms of a vulnerable and complicit citizenry. All across America, thousands of individuals lost their jobs and/or were forced to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by governments and private and public employers, throwing medical privacy and freedom squarely out the window. Recently, in Ontario, Canada, mask mandates have returned for elderly people living in “long term care” facilities. Students, workers, and volunteers must wear masks once again in these facilities.
In the West Virginia State Legislature, a recent piece of legislation was passed through the assembly which grant religious exemptions for schools. West Virginia was one of only five states without any form of exemptions. Students in a wide range of schools will now enjoy increased medical freedom.
