(The following is a contributed column from Franklin County resident James Bonner, a veteran of state and local politics. He will be an occasional contributor to the FFP to share his unique, and often controversial, thoughts on politics. Your opinions and responses are welcome.)
Yes Virginia, The government can make you wear a mask. And pants.
Although the legality of requiring you to be vaccinated is outside the domain of federal law, issues of health and safety, as outlined in the preamble to the United States Constitution, are reserved to the several states.
While they may not make you give blood, sacrifice a kidney or take a jab, they unequivocally have the right to put you in jail if you don't . Ask Typhoid Mary.
The point of this rant is my dearest friends who say, “I am not against masks --I am against mandates.” To this I say, “Well Depends.”
I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Just not in my face. You have the right to smoke, however the insurance lady says if you do it in my house my homeowners bill goes up $150 a month. Freedom is as freedom does. I personally don’t carry anything larger than fifty caliber in church, although the Constitution plainly allows it. Which brings me to my point.
The United States Pentagon does stuff. Sometimes not good stuff, but that is a matter of perspective. Psy ops. Psychological Operations are as old as the art of war. The Constitution not only allows but requires the government to promote peace and tranquility. There is no provision for truth.
These psy ops might for example be Apollo 1 exploding at second stage separation and a cover story claiming Gus Grissom was killed by an oxygen leak and velcro. Or It might be a disinformation campaign regarding a presidential candidate's ear. The truth is you have no constitutional right to the truth. It might be little green men in Aurora Texas. The trouble comes in the front door when the truth goes out the back.
In the case of psy ops. The Pentagon is in charge of disinformation campaigns and the President is Commander in Chief of the Pentagon. Case in point--On December 31st of 2019, Russia was our friend ( because it is good to have friends with nukes) and most people only knew what they learned about Ukraine from history books on Chernobyl.
On Jan 21st of 2020, Russia was the evil empire and Ukraine was Hunter Biden’s boy toy.
So far we have paid $60 billion on this “war” ( minus 10% to the big guy) for nothing. We had a perfectly good war in Afghanistan. Lets see, 60 Billion divided by 200 million tax paying Americans... carry the 5 .. cypher the zero naught plus naught is 'We.. you get the idea .. It is a lot.'
Meanwhile butter is $5.75 a pound and a single egg costs more than a dozen four years ago -and my new car is a 1996 model. As I told my friend “ you don’t like to be told what to do--I don’t like being told what to think” and if you watch ANY TV you are being told what to think. Even Archie Bunker and Quincy had an opinion but we buttered it to go down easy.
Some episodes of the Beverly Hillbillies are banned because they promote sedition against the federal government. So don’t listen to networks. Listen to me--the last bastion of free and independent thought in America!
