by Legislative Liaison Carolyn Martin
Happy Independence Day!
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 3:17b
In the 18th century, a Scottish historian observed that democracies were temporary in nature and followed a distinct progression: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back into bondage. The United States of America seems to be following this progression and is close to being put into bondage once again. Yet, we were given a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy, by our forefathers. This difference is significant. We much fight against those who seek to make us a democracy, which James Madison referred to as mob rule or the tyranny of the majority. Our demise is assured unless we regain the principles of our founding that brought us our unique form of government.
I don’t have the space to go into all the differences of a democracy or a republic. I’d encourage you to explore this on your own. Here’s an article to get you started. (And while you’re at it, be sure to read the Declaration of Independence this 4th of July!)
The colonies sought independence from a tyrannical king and established a new government built on the acknowledgment that every person was given certain unalienable rights from God, that no one was above His law, and that governments are accountable to God and the people. Today, His order and law are mocked and our government is run by unelected bureaucrats.
Bureaucrats Directed to Push Agenda
Though many people fought against a bill this session to alter the state government’s role in immunizations — and won — our governor, Jared Polis, issued an executive order to accomplish much of what we fought against. The stated goal of the executive order is to increase the vaccine rates of children across the state, especially in rural areas. The order directs the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to push the benefits of vaccines, while ignoring the hundreds of moms and dads who testified at the Capitol regarding the risks of vaccines and the harms they have suffered from them. This new directive also calls for the CDPHE to gather all Medicaid immunization data into their centralized database, which circumvents HIPAA and FERPA data privacy laws. The Board of Health (BOH) will be developing a standardized form to be used for all immunization and exemption data. (In 2016, we fought against their standardized form because it was a clear violation of a parent’s conscience and the law.)
There is more to the executive order, and I encourage you to read it for yourself. I will be watching how the BOH & CDPHE implement this order. Our God-given, unalienable parental rights are at stake and the tyranny of the administrative state should not be tolerated by any of us who love liberty. For those who are pro-vaccine and worry about public safety being jeopardized by those who exempt from vaccinations, I would encourage you to have an open and honest conversation with someone who doesn’t vaccinate their children and seek to respectfully share the reasoning behind your decisions with each other. After listening to the many hours of testimony during this past session, I can guarantee you will both be edified.
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Check out my End-of-Session Report!
Trusting in the mighty power and grace of Jesus,
Carolyn Martin, CHEC Legislative Liaison
carolyn@chec.org
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