Liberty can only exist in a climate of fair competition.
The Texas Legislature was recently tasked with passing legislation to prevent businesses from mandating COVID vaccines. There remains considerable confusion about the nature of this debate because conservatives are historically ‘pro-business’, and ‘Liberty’ is generally interpreted as people and businesses making decisions independent of government intervention.
SB-7, filed by Senator Mayes Middleton, sailed through the Texas Senate and the Health & Human Services Committees of both chambers to the House floor, only to initially be stalled by a soon-to-be former Speaker. Texas House members persevered and passed the bill with an amendment by Representative Steve Toth to increase the otherwise ineffective $1,000 per occurrence fine to $50,000. Yesterday, the bill passed in the Senate and is now on its way to the Governor’s desk.
My testimony at the opening Senate HHS Hearing is below:
Let’s begin with a few facts:
Disease does not affect all people the same. Immune compromised and individuals of moderate and poor health are much more likely to contract severe symptoms. The medical establishment seeks to generalize risk onto an entire population, which is a false premise. Further, with high levels of asymptomatic response related to most diseases, it becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible, to measure the effect of a medicine on a large population.
Vaccines do not stop the spread of viruses. In some people, they may reduce symptoms. Many vaccines on the current childhood schedule were introduced after the most significant waves of fatality and life-threatening symptoms of public health crises. As such, evidence that they reduce public outbreaks remains inconclusive. Natural immunity and history prove that diseases wane over time, with the exception of those caused by poor sanitation, environmental pollution, and toxicity.
Private businesses can mandate safety gear and other subjective standards for their employees. But they cannot coerce an employee to choose between feeding their family and injecting a medicine with known and meaningful risks. Body autonomy is sacred and an inalienable human right, not to mention we have crossed the barrier of rationality with medicines that genetically modify human immune systems.
Simply put, vaccines are a personal decision based on individual risk. Given vaccines do not stop the spread of disease, only reduce symptoms (for some), there is zero scientific basis for employers or governments mandating medicines to protect other employees, family members, or neighbors. Even a disease as supposedly transmutable as Tuberculosis may not cause symptoms in a large portion of the population. Therefore, quarantine laws and medical mandates are far more effective tactics of pharmaceutical sales than sound public health policies. Science loses all value when preceded by the words, ‘industry-funded.’
The Illusion of Competition
The primary reason we must prevent businesses from mandating medicine is that ‘free markets’ have become an illusion of competition.
When two or three asset managers are the largest shareholders of 90% of global corporations, including every major competitor in every industry vertical from banking to retail, grocery to telco, technology to social media, and beyond, we no longer have a free market. The volume of U.S. and global employment that composes the portfolios of these investment firms is astounding. And one of these asset managers is reportedly the largest investor of the other.
If a large bank tries to force their employees to take a mandatory medication, and the three banks down the street share the same policy, and all four share the same largest shareholders who also are the largest investors in pharmaceutical companies, we have a serious problem.
We are no longer talking about regulating business. We are talking about anti-trust on a scale not seen in over one hundred (100) years. The current climate of global corporate ownership may be more appropriately measured by the RICO Act. One may argue that these asset managers simply invest funds from clients, but what percentage of their portfolios originate from the same cohort of private interests?
The confusion of those compassionately fighting for ‘affordable health care’ for all, who in essence are advocating for the standardization of a failed healthcare system, is similar to those fighting for ‘free markets’ who are unconsciously rationalizing a virtual monopoly.
The reason we must regulate business is that large corporations are threatening to become a direct form of government. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards are quickly shifting from coercive recommendations from Blackrock to their portfolio companies, to requirements of the customers of 1,600 global corporations. Interestingly, the ESG framework dovetails perfectly with the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda and the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset.
Phantom control of proxy votes is a trivial issue when you consider that not only do these asset managers directly control roughly 8-12% of the shares of an estimated 90% of global corporations, but they are also the largest investors of many private equity and financial services firms who own more shares of the same companies.
This is tyranny.
Not by a government that appears to be working directly for these special interests but by the global financiers themselves, who are now uniquely positioned to cut out the middle-man of elected officials to become a form of law. Many Texans and many more Americans lost their livelihoods because they refused to inject a medication with unknown ingredients. Is it far-fetched to imagine those who rationalized such behavior could justify terminating bank accounts, internet access, cell phones, or credit cards of those who refused to comply with less egregious demands?
We are in dangerous territory where free markets are captured by the same forces who appear to control our administrative, regulatory, executive, legislative, and, to a great extent, our judicial systems. Conservatives and Liberals must wake up and realize that we are not enemies of each other; we are both being played by the money that uses corporations and countries as pawns in a much larger game.
Consider it was not the government that mandated COVID vaccines. Our president made a public speech and threatened to justify mandates through OSHA in a blatant unconstitutional violation of Federal power. It was largely private corporations who did the dirty work for Big Pharma. Many of those corporations share the same largest investors, who are among the largest shareholders of vaccine manufacturers.
Free markets are dependent on fair competition. Fair competition cannot exist in a condition of oligarchy.
SB-7 is only partially about stopping medical mandates. It is about setting a precedent that businesses do not have the right to violate the constitutional rights of Texans.
Instead of a $50,000 fine, which would do nothing to cover the medical expenses of a vaccine-injured employee or the loss of a spouse or parent, maybe businesses that want to mandate medical care will be willing to assume total, unlimited liability for injuries caused by such actions.
Free markets are not free with liability immunity.
You do not assume authority and exclusive rewards without taking risks, which is the key distinction ignored by monopolists pretending to support ‘Free Market Capitalism’ while exuding pure, unadulterated principles of Marxism.
Removing blanket immunity for pharmaceutical companies would quickly end the threat of vaccine mandates. This is the most direct and sensible way to bring the ‘free’ back into ‘markets.’ Only an industry immune to legal recourse that sells such a significant volume of its products to governments could raise prices when its products fail to sell as a result of unprecedented permanent injury and death.
If we do not effectively prevent businesses from mandating medicines or sponsoring violations of human rights, we will see them become a direct form of governance and population control. Do this, or you will have no job. Buy this, or your credit card will be restricted. Eat this toxic, artificial food, or your social credit score will be downgraded.
Until we restore an economic environment of fair competition and eliminate legal immunity, we must never allow corporations to mandate medicines. Otherwise, the illusion of competition becomes an illusion of choice.
To prevent a burden on small business, where some semblance of fair competition remains, we may begin to distinguish regulation for large, global corporations that have domiciled headquarters in tax havens abroad and who fall under the umbrella of nepotistic ownership, which appears to be operating in lockstep against America and the principles of Liberty.
Until we stop financially supporting global organizations that willfully violate human rights, we will continue to be governed by them. In addition to directing the lion’s share of our attention and capital to local businesses, we can battle the financial conflicts of global business by defending the sanctity of consent and empowering individual choice.
Businesses may not violate human rights through any form of financial pressure or coercion. Every person and entity must respect the universal law of consent.
Photo Cred: Joshua Hoehne (Unsplash)
References:
1) Texas House Speaker - https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2023/10/02/texas-house-speaker-dade-phelan-faces-mounting-pressure-following-ken-paxton-impeachment/
2) SB-7 - https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/SB7/2023/X3
3) Employees of Large Corporations - https://askwonder.com/research/explore-topic-us-employers-employee-count-c9pbbfyl3
4) RICO Act - https://www.ussc.gov/guidelines/primers/rico
5) E.S.G Standards Blackrock - https://www.blackrock.com/lu/intermediaries/themes/sustainable-investing/esg-integration#:~:text=Our%20approach%20to%20ESG%20integration,used%20to%20manage%20those%20portfolios.
6) E.S.G. and UN Sustainability Goals - https://www.blog-qhse.com/en/esg-strategies-to-achieve-the-uns-sustainable-development-goals
7) WEF Great Reset - https://gregorycporter.substack.com/p/unmasking-the-global-reset
8) Pfizer Raising Prices amidst weak demand - https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2022/11/01/pfizer-will-raise-the-price-of-its-covid-19-vaccine-almost-fourfold--reveals-unique-feature-of-us-healthcare-pricing/?sh=132108432580
Nice job brother.