Horowitz: Idaho gov defends employer vaccine mandates as 'limited government' after having locked down his state

On Sept. 23, 2020, three members of Christ Church were charged with a crime for not identifying themselves to the police when they were arrested for either not "social distancing" or not wearing masks ... outdoors. No, this was not in Australia; it was in Moscow, Idaho. A state which saw so many people from California flee to in order to find freedom, yet which Gov. Brad Little turned into a living nightmare for life, liberty, and property for a year. Now, he is blocking bills prohibiting employer vaccine mandates by hiding under the principles of ... limited government?

On Monday, Brad Little vetoed the Coronavirus Pause Act, Senate Bill 1381, which would have barred most businesses from requiring their employees to get a COVID shot for the next year. It was a very modest compromise bill with a small $1,000 fine for violators. It passed the House 45-23 and the Senate 24-11. In his veto message, Little waxed poetic about limited government. “I am vetoing this legislation because I am a lifelong advocate of limited government, and Senate Bill 1381 significantly expands government overreach into the private sector,” he stated.

This is quite rich from a man who turned his state into a communist empire for over a year. He shut down businesses and limited capacity for even longer than some blue states. His department of health promotes discredited mask-wearing to this day. The entire premise of why a business would even require such a dangerous and ineffective vaccine is because of policies like the ones from his administration that have essentially groomed the public for two years into thinking this is the right thing to do. They have effectively boxed out those without the shots from polite society and used the boot of government to do so.

Now, when the consequences of that fascist governance come due, he plays the “limited government” card against any efforts to undo COVID tyranny. “I have been consistent in stating my belief that businesses should be left to make decisions about the management of their operations and employees with limited interference from the government,” he wrote. Well, hell’s bell’s, Mr. Little!

In reality, the legislature did the right thing. They only made this law for 12 months, enough to extirpate from culture and society the degree of COVID fascism that was induced by the same government mandates. It’s akin to the Civil Rights Act: No conservative liked telling businesses whom they can and cannot discriminate against, but the reality was that government was used to marginalize blacks for so many years, so it required an act of government to undo that damage in the business world.

The same standard has been applied to COVID — for which the federal government mandated that businesses engage in this cruel, unscientific, and discriminatory behavior — thus it takes a state government interposition to fight back against the mentality. Garbage in, garbage out. The notion that somehow the principle of “the unvaccinated protecting the vaccinated from the ailment the vaccine failed to protect them from” would have been germinated in the private sector is absurd. It was the government working with the medical cronies, which Little participated in from day one, that helped groom businesses and the public into this illogical and immoral form of discrimination.

In 2021, Little vetoed a bill that limited his emergency declarations to a generous 60 days and that provided that the governor cannot change laws during the declared emergency. So much for limited government. The governor also vetoed HB 135 that session, which, among other things, would have prohibited the governor from quarantining the healthy, shutting down businesses and churches, and banning assembly. This is a man who allowed a bar on assembly to remain in place for nearly a year! In other words, this man thinks he can be a king, yet he has the nerve to wear the limited government mantle.

Isn’t it interesting how the one time Little “finds religion” when it comes to regulating businesses is when it comes to defending businesses that, at the behest of the federal government, violate the Nuremberg Code? If businesses can mandate a dangerous shot, will Little support abolishing all ADA and OSHA regulations? Anti-AIDS discrimination? Pursuant to the ADA (36.201), “no individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of goods [and] services,” without retaliation or coercion (36.206), covering any condition, whether a physical or mental impairment (36.302.1), wherein mere presence does not constitute direct threat, even if contagious or noncontagious with transmissible diseases (36.302.b.2, 36.208).

Do these laws suddenly not apply?

Meanwhile, Little’s department of health and welfare continues to promote the shots, even after it has become clear that they are unsafe and ineffective. Just through March 18, VAERS has already reached 55% of the number of myocarditis reports for the entirety 2021, even though there have been fewer shots administered in recent months!

To this day, Little’s health department is still promoting masks! In his veto letter, Little claims to have never issued a mandate, but because of the policies espoused by his department of health, every major city masked the children for months on end. When Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who served as governor for a day in his absence, attempted to ban those mandates, he summarily reversed her ban upon his return and called it “tyranny.” McGeachin is challenging Little in the May primary for governor.

Lawmakers will likely vote later this week on the override of Little’s veto of SB 1381. They need 24 votes in the senate, and presumably will get enough support because 24 voted for the original bill. Four GOP senators voted no: Jim Guthrie, Dan Johnson, Patti Anne Lodge, and Melissa Wintrow.

The bigger fight will be in the House where they need 47 representatives to override, but only 45 supported it on the first round. Two Republicans were absent, Tony Wisniewski and Dustin Manwaring, but Wisniewski is a co-sponsor of the bill. This means they only need to peel off one of the 12 Republicans who originally voted no. Here are the 12 House Republicans who voted against the bill, but can still vote to override the veto:

• Matthew Bundy
• Rod Furniss
• Marc Gibbs
• Linda Wright Hartgen
• Clark Kauffman
• Laurie Lickley
• Gary Marshall
• Lori McCann
• Scott Alan Syme
• Caroline Nilsson Troy
• Jon Weber
• Fred Wood

After this week, the legislature will be out of session until next January. Idaho has gone two years without any meaningful limitations on medical tyranny, and now the governor will have a free rein to exercise his version of “limited government.”

In Brad Little’s Orwellian mind, liberty is tyranny, and tyranny is liberty. To deny COVID treatment, to block prescriptions, to shut down churches and businesses, to discriminate based on Pfizer status, and to criminalize the breathing of children is all liberty and limited government, in Little’s estimation. To bar such immoral, illegal, illogical, and inhumane treatment is tyranny!

To this day, there is an Idaho woman with pending charges against her for simply bringing her kid to a park during Brad Little’s lockdown. Idaho is a red state with a blue management team.

Dr. Fauci might be retiring soon, but his legacy lives on strong in the ruby red state of Idaho thanks to Gov. Brad Little.