Daily Bread for 8.15.21: The ‘Personal Responsibility’ Crowd Wants a Handout

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:02 AM and sunset 7:55 PM, for 13h 53m 13s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 48.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1944, Allied forces land in southern France in Operation Dragoon.

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Molly Beck reports GOP lawmakers propose making workers who are fired, quit over vaccine mandates eligible for unemployment benefits:

MADISON – Republican lawmakers want to provide unemployment benefits to anyone who quits or is fired over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate — legislation Gov. Tony Evers said he would veto.

The proposal comes as health systems across the state are implementing new requirements for staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in addition to the other vaccines that have been required for years.

Hospitals are bracing for a new surge of COVID-19 infections that has materialized as not enough people are vaccinated to isolate the fast-spreading delta variant and keep it from spreading to those who are unable to get vaccinated, like children.

A number of protests have taken place in the wake of the systems’ new requirements with some health care workers pushing back against them citing the vaccines’ emergency-use approval status.

Republican Reps. Dan Knodl, Rick Gundrum, Rob Brooks and Sen. Duey Stroebel released proposed legislation on Thursday that would create an exemption in Wisconsin’s unemployment rules that would allow anyone who quit over such mandates or was fired over violating them to collect benefits.

“Individual liberty is the bedrock of a free republic and must be respected and protected. The decision of whether or not to get the COVID-19 vaccine is a decision to be made by individuals, not government bureaucrats or employers,” bill authors wrote in a memo to colleagues seeking support.

These WISGOP men talk about individual liberty, but they’re not prepared to accept the consequences of choice in a free society. Instead, these able-bodied, populist men want a government handout from others while exercising free choice.  That’s not liberty; it’s state-subsidized dependency. These populists, Trumpists one and all, talk about personal responsibility but will not accept the consequences of employers’ decisions on workplace protocols.

The answer for employees who do not want to accept employers’ vaccine requirements is to quit and find other jobs, not to ask for state-provided benefits.

One hears so much from these right-wing populists about how their political opponents – those of us in the majority across America – are afraid, motivated by fear, etc. It’s all nonsense. No group that claims to be rational talks so much about fear as the populists. It’s all evident projection with them.

Their declarations of ‘hope over fear’ melt away at the sight of a hypodermic needle. These big, bad Trump men – who claim to be rugged individualists – plead for handouts at others’ expense rather than take a jab.

No, and no again.

Those who will not comply with employers’ lawful workplace mandates are free (as they should be) to quit and find other jobs. They should use their time while unemployed to search through Help Wanted ads for less demanding workplaces.

They are not, and should never be, entitled to unemployment compensation for their vaccine refusal.

See also Jane Jacobs with Useful Advice on Responsibility (for Whitewater, Richmond Township, Delavan, Etc.),  A Private Insurance Response to Vaccine Refusal (Updated), Daily Bread for 8.11.21: Summerfest & Private Business Requirements, and No Shirt, No Shoes? No Service.

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SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy become world’s tallest rocket after stacking: