GOP Senator Ted Cruz gestures during his fifth day of impeachment trials against former President Donald Trump. This was February 13, 2021. Erin Scott/ReutersPresident Biden stated that federal employees will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and tested every week.Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, claims that this is an act of authoritarianism.The US Senator admitted that he doesn't believe there are other vaccines.Check out more stories from Insider's business page.Ted Cruz, a senator running for president in 2015 pledged to fire approximately 150,000 federal employees, and eliminate the Department of Education as well as the IRS. He now advocates for Washington's unelected bureaucrats, at least in the area of their right to refuse a life-saving vaccine during a pandemic.Cruz stated in a Thursday press release that "President Biden’s new vaccine mandate to federal employees is a brazen illustration of how the Left is politicizing Science in the Service of Their Authoritarian Instincts."Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn is a vaccinated himself and has encouraged others to do the same. He said that the American people should not lose their individual freedoms and their right to make their own medical choices.Biden's directive gives a loophole: federal workers who refuse to be vaccinated can still get tested every week, wear masks and remain socially distant.Continue reading: Anti-vaxxers engineer a wave of legal fights to defeat mandatory workplace Covid jabsThe senator might be right if COVID-19 was not an infectious disease, more contagious and more fatal than Ebola, with potential long-term health consequences. Freedom is the freedom to make bad decisions, whether it's good or bad.We are dealing with a disease, not a personal vice. According to the most recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccines are extremely effective and make it 25 times less likely that you will end up in the hospital. They aren't perfect, and there is a greater chance of a breakthrough case if one is constantly exposed to unvaccinated people who could be a breeding ground for new strains.Continue the storyIn a free society you can drink yourself to death, at most in your own home. However, it is not allowed to drive down interstate highways. Both federal and state laws prohibit driving after drinking.The requirement for the vaccination of the nation's 2.1million federal employees seems to be an extreme measure, given the lagging rates of vaccination and the contagious Delta virus. Corporate America may be following the government's lead but most Americans are being encouraged to get vaccinated. The state holds a $100 voucher to those who opt to get it.The senator from Texas would defend the employer's right to determine the terms of employment in almost any context. He has even argued that there is a right to deny this right on the grounds of sexual orientation. People accept restrictions on what they wear and how they speak in exchange for money every day. This system is supported by the majority of Republicans.Texas also has vaccine mandates. The Texas government requires that all children attending public schools receive seven vaccines. This includes Hepatitis, Polio, Hepatitis, Measles and Mumps. Texas allows parents to apply for exemptions in certain situations, but only when there is an emergency or epidemic. You must have your child vaccinated if you want them to go to school. This is because it is possible for an individual to interfere with the liberty of others when contagious diseases are involved.When Dave Vasquez was asked by Cruz spokesperson if the senator objected to other vaccine requirements, Vasquez replied, "Ofcourse not." "Sen. Cruz made it clear that he does not support COVID vaccine mandates."That is the crux of the matter: Cruz and others decided that now was the right time to declare public health a new battle in the culture war and to protest liberal "authoritarianism," in regard to a life-saving vaccine. This is more political than principle.Business Insider has the original article.
