Madison Ruppert
End the Lie
The Vermont Senate recently passed a bill, which is now on its way
to the state House, which, if signed into law, would end the ability
for parents to avoid getting their children vaccinated based on
philosophical grounds.
This means that children will not be able to go to school if their
parents refuse the vaccines, as they can no longer be exempt from the
requirement based on the parent’s philosophical opposition.
No matter how you feel about vaccines, I hope that you recognize and
respect the right of individuals to make the ultimate decision when it
comes to their own health and the health of their children which is
becoming increasingly stripped away from the people of the United
States.
In a
police state like the United States where
you can be held indefinitely without charge or trial or
deemed a possible terrorist for just about everything,
this might seem like a relatively small issue to some. I do not think
that the right to choose what goes into our bodies and the bodies of
our children is at all a small matter as it can only lead to more
government intervention in our lives which is the last thing the
American people need.
While a religious exemption would supposedly remain in place, this
does not mean much given that both senators and Vermont Health
Department officials have agreed that there are no standards in Vermont
law which define religious belief.
One would assume that Christian Scientists would be exempt from this
law due to their well-known beliefs, but could an anti-vaccine
campaigner claim that they have a religious belief which prevents them
from allowing their children to be vaccinated under this law? That much
is unclear at this point.
Some think that no such explicit definition should be in law at all
such as the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, Mathew Staver.
Liberty Counsel is an international non-profit organization which
focuses on litigation and policy promotion aimed at advancing religious
freedom, and according to their
website, “the sanctity of life, and the family” with offices in multiple states and Israel.
“It can be a slippery slope to try to determine whether a person’s religious belief is valid or not,” Staver said.
“It puts the courts or the government in the role of deciding what
is considered orthodox or not orthodox, approved or not approved, as it
relates to religious belief,” he added, according to the
Associated Press.
I think his point is quite strong, as government has absolutely no
right to meddle in the private religious lives of Americans, especially
the ability to say, “This religious belief is okay and this one is not.”
The manager for the Vermont Department of Health’s immunization
program, Christine Finley, said that parents just need to sign a form
requesting a religious exemption to get one.
“Nothing would stop you if you wanted to exempt your children on religious grounds,” she claimed.
However, if someone does not have a “religious” objection and
instead one based on health concerns, they might have to lie in filling
out such a form.
Even drawing a line between what a religious vs. philosophical
objection really is would be difficult. Do you have to meet regularly
and have rituals in order for it to transform from a mere philosophical
position to a religious belief?
This bill seems to be placing religious beliefs on a different
playing field than other positions which are not based on religious
dogma. I find this intellectual repugnant as I do not see any
difference between the beliefs of, say, a nihilist and a Catholic in
terms of the right of the individual to live their life according to
such beliefs.
If a philosophy is opposed to vaccinations, individuals who identify
with it should have every right that someone with a religious objection
would have. It seems almost absurd that this is even something that
needs to be said.
Thankfully, one senator, Philip Baruth, agreed with me in voting for
the measure. Baruth, a Democrat, said that he objected to treating
philosophical objections any differently than religious ones.
Baruth stated he was “troubled though, that we would remove
philosophical conviction as something that would be allowed to those
who don’t profess an organized religion. It seems to me we’re moving
down a path where we’re creating… a set of rights for people of
professed, organized religion, and taking them away from people who
have deeply held convictions but who do not in fact worship this or
that higher being.”
Baruth’s point is, in my opinion, very important and indeed it is
quite troubling that the law would treat a philosophical position any
different from a religious one.
Senator Kevil Mullin, a Republican and chief sponsor of the Senate
bill in Vermont, said that if they tried to remove both the religious
exemption and the philosophical exemption it would most likely be
challenged in court and struck down.
Mullin said that he thinks many of the people who have taken the
philosophical exemption in the past will not request a religious one if
this becomes law.
“In other states, immunization rates have gone up when they did away with the philosophical exemption,” he said.
It is impossible to accurately say why this is; it could be due to
those who took a philosophical exemption not wanting to lie in
requesting a religious one, not knowing that they could still get their
child exempted at all or potentially anything at all.
Currently, 20 states in America allow a philosophical exemption from
immunization requirements and every state except Mississippi and West
Virginia allow a religious exemption.
The state Health Department uses federal Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention recommendations to construct their list of required and
recommended vaccines for children to enter public schools or even
licensed child care facilities.
Just to enter Kindergarten, children are required to receive three
doses of hepatitis B vaccine, four doses of the diphtheria, tetanus and
pertussis vaccine, three doses of polio vaccine, three of the measles,
mumps and rubella vaccine and one chicken pox vaccine as well.
When the Vermont Senate’s Health and Welfare Committee met to take
testimony on the legislation, a large group of parents attended and
raised many concerns about the move to end the philosophical exemption.
Some of the parents brought up the potential adverse reactions,
sometimes fatal ones, which occur in a small percentage of those who
receive the vaccines.
Yet the state Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen and others
testified that the scientific evidence of the benefits of vaccines
outweighed the potentially fatal risks.
Mullin utilized some rhetoric which, in my opinion, is deplorably manipulative in pushing for the legislation.
“Many of us may not be in this chamber today if our parents and
grandparents, great-grandparents had taken such a lenient approach to
vaccinations and refused to be vaccinated for diseases like smallpox,
polio and tuberculosis,” Mullins said.
“We’re going to protect our kids in our public schools and early
childhood facilities so they are not exposed to dangerous disease and
illness,” Mullins said in an attempt to tug on the heart strings of
legislators and leverage fear to his advantage.
It remains to be seen if this will pass through the House and if
more states will continue to eradicate the rights of parents to make
the ultimate call on their child’s health, and if there will be a
continued lopsided treatment of philosophical values and religious ones.
Like I said, regardless of if you think vaccines are a godsend or a
health hazard, this is the United States where we are supposed to
respect the individual’s right to choose and I would like to preserve
that right in every possible aspect of our lives.
This is where the lie ends. The American people are waking up to the
fact that the mainstream media is controlled by a very small group of
elite billionaires who decide exactly what stories to cover. We at End
the Lie force politicians to address the real issues, force government
to be accountable and transparent, and force real change to occur in
our country. Every American needs to get informed and stand up for the
principles upon which our wonderful country was founded. Do it now with
End the Lie.
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