MSNBC: “About a week after testing positive for Covid-19 himself, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order banning the use of vaccine mandates in the public sector and for businesses that contract with the state.
The Republican’s guidance was sweeping — overriding both local control and private sector rights. Under his order, any “public or private entity that is receiving or will receive public funds through any means, including grants, contracts, loans, or other disbursements of taxpayer money” cannot require customers to show proof of vaccinations. “No consumer may be denied entry to a facility financed in whole or in part by public funds for failure to provide documentation regarding the consumer’s vaccination status.”
So much for limited government, property rights or conservative principles. Abbott’s order was also a revealing indication of how the GOP now defines “freedom.”
“So, let me get this straight,” one New York Times observer wrote in a letter to the editor, prior to Abbott’s most recent order. “Gov. Greg Abbott’s version of freedom plays out like this. Take advantage of all of the available protections for yourself, including those you have access to because you are in a position of power and privilege — daily testing, vaccines plus a booster, treatment with monoclonal antibodies, access to premier health care — while doing nothing to protect your constituents from the disease.”