This past Florida legislative session was a busy one for Governor Ron DeSantis. It had to be time consuming for him to dream up ways to play to the Trump base. First, we had the anti-riot bill that makes rioting against the law, except rioting was already against the law. The he decided he would go after Big Tech with a highly unconstitutional bill to interfere with the rights of private businesses.
Apparently, those two were not enough grandstanding for one session, he decided again to prove he is anti-private property rights with the legislation that makes it impermissible for any business operating in Florida to require patrons or customers to provide documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination or post-infection recovery “to gain access to, entry upon, or services from” the business.
This is funny because DeSantis keeps Florida under Covid-19 health emergency order. Of course, his real reason for keeping us under a health emergency is to continue to receive Biden Bucks from the federal government which allowed his record budget of $101 billion budget. No sense being fiscally responsible if Uncle Joe is sending boatloads of money.
As conservatives, surely, we believe in private property rights as a bedrock principle of our founders. Shouldn’t private businesses be free to decide if they want to require proof of a Covid-19 vaccine or not?
Because Governor DeSantis wants to keep us under a state of Covid-19 emergency order, a private business may decide that requiring proof of vaccine could ensure a safe workplace for nervous employees or safe place for nervous consumers to shop. The beauty of free markets is that it gives consumers the power to decide, not the government. If consumers do not like the vaccine requirement, they can shop somewhere else and businesses might decide to use that as a competitive edge and advertise they do not require a vaccine.
No matter what anyone thinks about Covid-19, facemasks, and vaccines, under the principle of private property rights, businesses should be free to decide. And I do not buy the HIPPA argument. A business has the right to make sure their employees are drug free and require random drug testing.
Just remember just because you like an authoritarian Governor that acts the way you like, also gives power to the next Governor to mandate things you do not like.