The American system of government consists primarily of a series of process requirements. The Founders believed that these process requirements would guard against concentrations of …
The American system of government consists primarily of a series of process requirements. The Founders believed that these process requirements would guard against concentrations of power and thus protect liberty. In the modern era, regard for the importance of process requirements has been largely abandoned. Government action is judged almost exclusively, by all sides, by whether people agree or disagree with the outcome, irrespective of whether the process guardrails that are the foundation of American government were respected. There are serious long-term ramifications of that. President Joe Biden’s recently announced COVID-19 response plan contains a number of process violations. This should be of concern even if you agree with the policies he announced. Biden wants the federal government to require that all eligible Americans get vaccinated. However, he is not directly ordering that. Perhaps the president doesn’t believe he has the authority under public health laws to directly order people to get vaccinated. If so, and he believes that the federal government should have that authority, the proper course would be to ask Congress to pass a law granting it. Instead, Biden is misusing the Occupational Safety and Health Act to compel employers to make vaccinations a job requirement. OSHA’s writ is workplace safety. It is intended to regulate risks endemic to the worksite, not as a backdoor way to address a general public health concern such as COVID-19.
