Gretchen Whitmer — Gretchen Whitmer!! — questions vaccine mandates

OPINION:

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Michiganian who became the face of American tyranny when she famously cracked down on seed purchases at Home Depot-type stores during the blooming stages of the coronavirus, had this to say about vaccine mandates: “I know if that mandate happens, we’re going to lose state employees” and “that’s why I haven’t proposed a mandate at the state level” and “we’re waiting to see what happens in court.”

A Democrat who’s actually taking a cue from courts and citizens’ backlash and slowing roll on a dictate? Look to the skies. Pigs must be flying.

Look. You know you’re losing the battle to subdue civil rights when a tyrant like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer starts getting queasy on the quest. This is the governor, after all, who issued so many executive orders on coronavirus, and who curtailed so many civil liberties due to coronavirus, that she sparked such characterizations from her constituents as a “mothering tyrant of coronavirus dystopia,” as MLive.com wrote in mid-2020. 

This is the governor, after all, who banned stores from selling gardening items — including seeds, as some facilities interpreted it — based on coronavirus concerns.

This is the governor, after all, who ultimately fueled enough fire that led to an arrest of more than a dozen who plotted her kidnapping. Ouch. That’s tyrannical. That’s pretty dang tyrannical.

And now she’s hesitant to adopt vaccine mandates?

“We’re an employer too, the state of Michigan is,” Whitmer said, leading up to her concern about the loss of public sector workers over vaccine mandates.

So what if her motive for opposing vaccine mandates is more selfish and self-serving than principled stand. It’s still an opposition.

A handful of other Democrats, reading the tea leaves of four recent court cases slapping back Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates, are whispering about changing their tyrannical ways, too, and considering the benefits of adopting a more voluntary approach to these shots. They’re probably doing so only out of selfish and self-centered views, as well. But again: So what?

So long as individual choice and health freedom reign — so what of the motivations that led there?

Democrats will never be the party of the principled. 

But they have a chance, with these vaccine mandates — or, more to truth, with the courts killing the idea of vaccine mandates — to be the party of Johnny-come-lately. As far as freedom-minded American citizens sick of the Anthony Fauci finger-wagging and Team Biden blasting for boosters to infinity and beyond — it’s all good. So long as freedom prevails, it’s all good.

And truly, as each court case ticks by, it’s becoming increasingly clear coronavirus mandates are unconstitutional. Even Whitmer, deep down, understands this to be true.

Ding-dong, the mandate’s about dead. You know that when a tyrant has to admit defeat, freedom is right around the corner.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.