As Arizona Outlaws Vaccine Passports, Michigan Extends 'Emergency' Mandates for 6 More Months

By Jack Cowhick April 19, 2021 at 1:11pm

A contrast as old as time — Republicans are giving up executive powers while Democrats are holding on to them for their lives.

Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, once again putting his constituents before his own office, signed an executive order Monday that amounts to an all-out ban on “vaccine passports,” a recent phenomenon some liberal states like California have encouraged.

Ducey announced the order in a Monday tweet, explaining it would prevent state and local governments from requiring that residents of the state provide proof of having received the vaccine.

#COVID19 VACCINE UPDATE:

I’ve issued an Executive Order banning “vaccine passports” and preventing state and local governments from requiring Arizonans to provide their #COVID19 vaccination status to receive service or enter an area. 1/

— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) April 19, 2021

The governor doubled down in the thread’s next tweet, writing, “The residents of our state should not be required by the government to share their private medical information.”

The residents of our state should not be required by the government to share their private medical information. While we strongly recommend all Arizonans get the #COVID19 vaccine, it’s not mandated in our state — and it never will be. 2/

— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) April 19, 2021

Nevertheless, Arizona has not at all neglected the vaccine as a whole. According to Ducey, over 1.9 million Arizonans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Do you support a vaccine passport?

However, even though the state is making efforts to vaccinate its population, Ducey made clear in his order that receiving those doses is a choice completely left to residents themselves, and the state of Arizona will not force citizens to make that choice a public one.

Ducey’s first two statements exemplify the spirit of the order:

“1. No state agency, county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state shall adopt any order, policy, regulation, ordinance, or other measure that requires an individual to provide documentation regarding the individual’s COVID-19 vaccination status as a condition of entering any building, business, facility, location, park, or other space unless proof of vaccination is currently a requirement under state law.

“2. No state agency, county, city, town or other political subdivision shall adopt any order, policy, regulation, ordinance, or other measure that requires an individual to provide documentation regarding the individual’s COVID-19 vaccination status as a condition of receiving any service, permit, license or other work authorization requirement issued by the jurisdiction unless proof of vaccination is currently a requirement under state law.”

In short, no one, regardless of how high their office or which branch they are employed by, will enforce any kind of “vaccine passport” for as long as the “public health emergency” declared last year by then-Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar is in effect.

A politician so keen on throwing out the extensive emergency powers he and his administration have received because of the coronavirus is refreshing, to say the least. Surprisingly, this spirit is strong with our northern neighbors as well.

After the provincial government of Ontario, Canada’s most populated province, gave police the power to legally “stop and question people who leave home,” the police forces of Toronto and at least 22 other cities refused to do so, Reuters reported.

“The Toronto Police Service will continue to engage, educate and enforce, but we will not be doing random stops of people or cars,” Toronto Police Service tweeted Saturday.

New emergency orders announced yesterday to help limit the spread of Covid-19 are now in effect. The Toronto Police Service will continue to engage, educate and enforce, but we will not be doing random stops of people or cars. 1/2

— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) April 17, 2021

Unfortunately for Michiganders, though, their governor isn’t as selfless as Ducey or the Toronto police. In fact, she’s quite the opposite.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a “certificate of need for extension of emergency rules” on April 10, which essentially means her administration will continue to hold its boot on the necks of Michigan residents.

“Based on the best available scientific evidence and public health guidance available regarding the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, I find that these emergency rules are necessary to protect employees,” the governor wrote.

Armed with this “best available scientific evidence,” Whitmer is extending her administration’s emergency powers — originally set to expire last week — for another six months, supposedly expiring Oct. 14.

But, knowing Whitmer’s love of government power, many are expecting that the governor is laying the groundwork for her administration to make coronavirus-era restrictions like mask mandates permanent.

What could better exemplify the true fight between Republican liberty and Democratic tyranny?

Republicans simply refuse to allow their residents to lose their liberties if not absolutely necessary, as Ducey demonstrated with his order. Whitmer, though, refuses to let her power go. She would rather sit in her high castle and watch her citizens suffer under tyranny than give even some of her power away.

Hopefully, blue-state citizens will come to their senses and realize where they can live their lives in freedom.

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