Will Libertarianism Die a Covid Death?
An Open Letter to the Arizona & National Libertarian Party
January 2021
January 2021
By Dru Heaton
PARTY JOKE
A Libertarian walks into a bar. At the sound of her arrival, the individuals gathered in a crowd turn toward the door in the collective* eruption of excitement and surprise. She is swallowed in a shower of smiles, laughter, and offers of, “Hey! Let me buy you a drink!”
Free to accept the tempting offer, she nevertheless knows the responsibilities accompanying her rights. Although anxious to enjoy the company of her friends, tonight she’ll remain sober. She’s packing –carrying concealed. She orders a soda and tips the bartender far more than the cost of the drink.
Without warning, she falls to the floor unconscious. Rushing to her aid, the bartender begins CPR and in the process her firearm is revealed. A middle-aged woman drops her foreign beer screaming as she runs out of the bar terrified it might instantly explode, “She’s got a gun! She’s got a gun!” After all, everyone* knows possession is nine-tenths of the criminal law.
“How did she get a gun in here?” the bar owners complains. He heads toward his office and is overheard to say, “I’d better hurry and put a sign on the door.” After all, everyone* knows signage is the most effective way to keep criminals at bay. (To be continued…)
“As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and are not forced to sacrifice their values for the benefit of others.” –Libertarian Party Platform, Preamble
A year ago, I attended the Arizona State Libertarian Convention in Tucson, Arizona anxious to ask a specific question of each presidential candidate. I asked the entire panel, but I also asked Dr. Jo Jorgenson directly about her stance on mandated or forced vaccination. While she personally recognized the benefit of the practice, she explained in Libertarian fashion why she was against this or any other forced medical procedure as a matter of principle. I was glad to hear this since Gary Johnson, the previous presidential candidate, believed in mandating them.
“We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force… must be banished from human relationships…” –Libertarian Party Platform, Preamble
WARNING! THIS IS A TEST
I can think of no greater unifying rally cry than freedom; I can think of no greater time for Libertarian principles to be exposed and accepted; and I can think of no greater test of the Libertarian ideal than the current health and human rights crisis. Are mask and vaccine mandates more important than an individual’s right to choose?
Mechanisms matter. Anyone who is familiar with firearms will recognize the irrational behavior of the woman who runs out of the bar screaming. Guns don’t explode although some people certainly think and act as if they do.
In March of last year, I held a Health & Human Rights Summit at which Dan Behrman, the Libertarian presidential candidate, was a guest speaker. Since vaccination was one of the topics addressed and in a conversation in preparation for his remarks, I began to explain the mechanism of herd immunity. Dan politely interrupted me wanting to put my mind at ease. He felt it was unnecessary to go into the scientific background of the issue since he was confident that he could address the topic based on the philosophical principle alone. I yet expressed my concern. Rhetoric is perpetuated that “unvaccinated individuals pose an imminent threat” not only to public health in general but even to individuals who are vaccinated. It is advertised as, “Your vaccine protects me, and my vaccine protects you.” Does this sound familiar? Despite the widespread repetition of this propaganda, this is a false premise. It doesn’t pass the mechanistic muster.
I was troubled to learn, horrified actually, that the topic of masks took on a similar debate at last year’s Libertarian National Convention with some arguing that “anti-maskers” violate the non-aggression principle thereby suggesting a quantitative act (crime) and a qualitative threat (criminal) impacting individual victims. Thus, the lawful principles of body sovereignty, liberty, and justice are held hostage by a false concept of externality. We are at the tipping point of a moral shift and individual rights are on the chopping block with some Libertarians leading the scapegoat (effectively themselves) to the slaughter. Due to inaccurate beliefs held by nearly everyone,* the philosophical truth of a correct principle is often rejected because of a contradicting belief that is based on a false premise. Philosophy in these situations is not enough.
Immunity is a complex biological process, and although it would be beneficial, educational, and illuminating to dive into the mechanistic weeds of what we know and what we still have to learn about it, my main concern here is to restore reason and justice to this argument and to make it relevant to our current situation. However, I know full well that I must, at least briefly, attempt to expose the fallacies of the collective belief that vaccine induced immunity is the same as naturally acquired immunity minus the risk. Vaccination is not a 1:1 ratio –meaning a vaccine does not only or even equal immunity due to the following facts:
“[G]overnments, when instituted, must not violate individual rights… People should not be forced to sacrifice their lives and property for the benefit of others…” –Libertarian Party Platform, Statement of Principles
While there are many more biological considerations, the previous facts alone should dispel the myth that an unvaccinated person is a criminal or represents an imminent threat and is thus committing a crime. And here’s the kicker:
4. Vaccination is a real medical procedure with real risks. Period. Vaccine injury is real. Period.
As far as unmasked individuals violating the non-aggression principle, I’m going to ask you to briefly extend the comparison while I address what Libertarians should consider a much more egregious and real crime. I will further expand upon this and address what I consider to be other crimes in follow-up articles.
“Individuals own their own bodies and have rights over them that other individuals, groups, and governments may not violate. Individuals have the freedom and responsibility to decide what they knowingly and voluntarily consume, and what risks they accept to their own health… safety, or life.” –Libertarian Party Platform, 1.1 Self-Ownership
The Covid-19 vaccine that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Health Department Director Cara Christ brag are being distributed at locations around the state and at one location in particular at a rate of 200 per hour are not FDA approved. This is not in dispute. They are FDA “Emergency Use Authorized.” As such, they are experimental BY DEFINITION and individuals are unlikely to receive compensation if injured per the PREP Act. This is lost on the general public blinded by the omnipotent state’s marketing slogan that “vaccines are safe and effective.” Are people knowingly and voluntarily participating in a medical trial? Based on the collective clamor to return to the never-again new-normal at all-costs conformity, evidently not. This is a crime against individuals and humanity in general to the magnitude which inspired the Nuremberg Trials and Code.
THE PUNCH LINE
By the time the police and paramedics arrive, only a handful of her fellow Libertarian friends remain to observe and the exhausted bartender finally steps away. As the authorities pack up the suspect and take her into custody, the laggards are agreed –the next topic for their party meeting is confirmed. After all, no one except Libertarians think to discuss the injustice of victimless crimes any more.
Discussing principles without practicing or implementing them is what led one presenter, Zack Foster, at last year’s Arizona state convention to describe our party the way other parties see us, “nothing but a glorified book club.” A knowing wave of muffled laughter erupted uncomfortably throughout the audience. He mentioned this while exposing the injustices and even deaths suffered by Libertarians in Cuba doing what we in this country take, at least currently, for granted.
Will Libertarianism be recorded as a Covid death? On April 3rd, 2020 the national Vital Statistics System altered the standard for recording death in the United States creating a bias towards Covid-19 diagnosis. This has wreaked havoc in the medical community and greater society. Will we Libertarians alter the standard of the non-aggression principle to effectively commit suicide or will we take a stand based on our goal to set the world free in our lifetime?
“The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it is not. If you leave out justice you will find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials ‘for the sake of humanity’, and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man.” –C.S. Lewis
Make America JUST again.
A Libertarian walks into a bar. At the sound of her arrival, the individuals gathered in a crowd turn toward the door in the collective* eruption of excitement and surprise. She is swallowed in a shower of smiles, laughter, and offers of, “Hey! Let me buy you a drink!”
Free to accept the tempting offer, she nevertheless knows the responsibilities accompanying her rights. Although anxious to enjoy the company of her friends, tonight she’ll remain sober. She’s packing –carrying concealed. She orders a soda and tips the bartender far more than the cost of the drink.
Without warning, she falls to the floor unconscious. Rushing to her aid, the bartender begins CPR and in the process her firearm is revealed. A middle-aged woman drops her foreign beer screaming as she runs out of the bar terrified it might instantly explode, “She’s got a gun! She’s got a gun!” After all, everyone* knows possession is nine-tenths of the criminal law.
“How did she get a gun in here?” the bar owners complains. He heads toward his office and is overheard to say, “I’d better hurry and put a sign on the door.” After all, everyone* knows signage is the most effective way to keep criminals at bay. (To be continued…)
“As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and are not forced to sacrifice their values for the benefit of others.” –Libertarian Party Platform, Preamble
A year ago, I attended the Arizona State Libertarian Convention in Tucson, Arizona anxious to ask a specific question of each presidential candidate. I asked the entire panel, but I also asked Dr. Jo Jorgenson directly about her stance on mandated or forced vaccination. While she personally recognized the benefit of the practice, she explained in Libertarian fashion why she was against this or any other forced medical procedure as a matter of principle. I was glad to hear this since Gary Johnson, the previous presidential candidate, believed in mandating them.
“We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force… must be banished from human relationships…” –Libertarian Party Platform, Preamble
WARNING! THIS IS A TEST
I can think of no greater unifying rally cry than freedom; I can think of no greater time for Libertarian principles to be exposed and accepted; and I can think of no greater test of the Libertarian ideal than the current health and human rights crisis. Are mask and vaccine mandates more important than an individual’s right to choose?
Mechanisms matter. Anyone who is familiar with firearms will recognize the irrational behavior of the woman who runs out of the bar screaming. Guns don’t explode although some people certainly think and act as if they do.
In March of last year, I held a Health & Human Rights Summit at which Dan Behrman, the Libertarian presidential candidate, was a guest speaker. Since vaccination was one of the topics addressed and in a conversation in preparation for his remarks, I began to explain the mechanism of herd immunity. Dan politely interrupted me wanting to put my mind at ease. He felt it was unnecessary to go into the scientific background of the issue since he was confident that he could address the topic based on the philosophical principle alone. I yet expressed my concern. Rhetoric is perpetuated that “unvaccinated individuals pose an imminent threat” not only to public health in general but even to individuals who are vaccinated. It is advertised as, “Your vaccine protects me, and my vaccine protects you.” Does this sound familiar? Despite the widespread repetition of this propaganda, this is a false premise. It doesn’t pass the mechanistic muster.
I was troubled to learn, horrified actually, that the topic of masks took on a similar debate at last year’s Libertarian National Convention with some arguing that “anti-maskers” violate the non-aggression principle thereby suggesting a quantitative act (crime) and a qualitative threat (criminal) impacting individual victims. Thus, the lawful principles of body sovereignty, liberty, and justice are held hostage by a false concept of externality. We are at the tipping point of a moral shift and individual rights are on the chopping block with some Libertarians leading the scapegoat (effectively themselves) to the slaughter. Due to inaccurate beliefs held by nearly everyone,* the philosophical truth of a correct principle is often rejected because of a contradicting belief that is based on a false premise. Philosophy in these situations is not enough.
Immunity is a complex biological process, and although it would be beneficial, educational, and illuminating to dive into the mechanistic weeds of what we know and what we still have to learn about it, my main concern here is to restore reason and justice to this argument and to make it relevant to our current situation. However, I know full well that I must, at least briefly, attempt to expose the fallacies of the collective belief that vaccine induced immunity is the same as naturally acquired immunity minus the risk. Vaccination is not a 1:1 ratio –meaning a vaccine does not only or even equal immunity due to the following facts:
- Primary Vaccine Failure: It is a fact that not everyone generates an immune response to vaccination.
- Secondary Vaccine Failure: Unlike a lasting natural infectious response (lifetime immunity to measles for example), vaccine protection has been shown to wane and require continual boosting doses.
- 100% Compliant Population Outbreaks: Despite complete compliance, the military and other populations yet record outbreaks.
“[G]overnments, when instituted, must not violate individual rights… People should not be forced to sacrifice their lives and property for the benefit of others…” –Libertarian Party Platform, Statement of Principles
While there are many more biological considerations, the previous facts alone should dispel the myth that an unvaccinated person is a criminal or represents an imminent threat and is thus committing a crime. And here’s the kicker:
4. Vaccination is a real medical procedure with real risks. Period. Vaccine injury is real. Period.
As far as unmasked individuals violating the non-aggression principle, I’m going to ask you to briefly extend the comparison while I address what Libertarians should consider a much more egregious and real crime. I will further expand upon this and address what I consider to be other crimes in follow-up articles.
“Individuals own their own bodies and have rights over them that other individuals, groups, and governments may not violate. Individuals have the freedom and responsibility to decide what they knowingly and voluntarily consume, and what risks they accept to their own health… safety, or life.” –Libertarian Party Platform, 1.1 Self-Ownership
The Covid-19 vaccine that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Health Department Director Cara Christ brag are being distributed at locations around the state and at one location in particular at a rate of 200 per hour are not FDA approved. This is not in dispute. They are FDA “Emergency Use Authorized.” As such, they are experimental BY DEFINITION and individuals are unlikely to receive compensation if injured per the PREP Act. This is lost on the general public blinded by the omnipotent state’s marketing slogan that “vaccines are safe and effective.” Are people knowingly and voluntarily participating in a medical trial? Based on the collective clamor to return to the never-again new-normal at all-costs conformity, evidently not. This is a crime against individuals and humanity in general to the magnitude which inspired the Nuremberg Trials and Code.
THE PUNCH LINE
By the time the police and paramedics arrive, only a handful of her fellow Libertarian friends remain to observe and the exhausted bartender finally steps away. As the authorities pack up the suspect and take her into custody, the laggards are agreed –the next topic for their party meeting is confirmed. After all, no one except Libertarians think to discuss the injustice of victimless crimes any more.
Discussing principles without practicing or implementing them is what led one presenter, Zack Foster, at last year’s Arizona state convention to describe our party the way other parties see us, “nothing but a glorified book club.” A knowing wave of muffled laughter erupted uncomfortably throughout the audience. He mentioned this while exposing the injustices and even deaths suffered by Libertarians in Cuba doing what we in this country take, at least currently, for granted.
Will Libertarianism be recorded as a Covid death? On April 3rd, 2020 the national Vital Statistics System altered the standard for recording death in the United States creating a bias towards Covid-19 diagnosis. This has wreaked havoc in the medical community and greater society. Will we Libertarians alter the standard of the non-aggression principle to effectively commit suicide or will we take a stand based on our goal to set the world free in our lifetime?
“The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it is not. If you leave out justice you will find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials ‘for the sake of humanity’, and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man.” –C.S. Lewis
Make America JUST again.
This article was updated on January 27, 2021 from the original to clarify EUA injury compensation. Injured
parties are not able to sue the manufacturers directly for liability. Instead, under the PREP Act (Public
Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act) they are required to file a claim in the CICP (Countermeasure
Injury Compensation Plan). Only 8% of claims under this program have been compensated.
https://www.hrsa.gov/cicp/cicp-data?fbclid=IwAR04sTmx-H0Pyq1DA-
JUaXX5etJdBO1ggQmuAmSQxRZhjJbQb05R0TxNKP0 If the CICP performs as poorly as the NVICP (National
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program) set up to compensate injured children, injured parties under the EUA
will be extremely disappointed. “A system Congress established to speed help to Americans harmed by
vaccines has instead heaped additional suffering on thousands of families, The Associated Press has found.”
AP IMPACT: Obscure ‘vaccine court’ doesn’t work as designed, keeps claimants waiting for years; November
17, 2014 https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/ap-impact-obsecure-vaccine-court-doesnt-work-as-designed-
keeps-claimants-waiting-for-years
parties are not able to sue the manufacturers directly for liability. Instead, under the PREP Act (Public
Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act) they are required to file a claim in the CICP (Countermeasure
Injury Compensation Plan). Only 8% of claims under this program have been compensated.
https://www.hrsa.gov/cicp/cicp-data?fbclid=IwAR04sTmx-H0Pyq1DA-
JUaXX5etJdBO1ggQmuAmSQxRZhjJbQb05R0TxNKP0 If the CICP performs as poorly as the NVICP (National
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program) set up to compensate injured children, injured parties under the EUA
will be extremely disappointed. “A system Congress established to speed help to Americans harmed by
vaccines has instead heaped additional suffering on thousands of families, The Associated Press has found.”
AP IMPACT: Obscure ‘vaccine court’ doesn’t work as designed, keeps claimants waiting for years; November
17, 2014 https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/ap-impact-obsecure-vaccine-court-doesnt-work-as-designed-
keeps-claimants-waiting-for-years