Epidemics and Liberty

Small "r" republicanism and bodily autonomy.

There seems to be some confusion on this subject: in a republic, sovereignty resides in the people … NOT the individual. Sovereignty of the individual is anarchism.

You want freedom and bodily autonomy ?

I want freedom from people too foolish, ignorant, selfish, or antisocial to wear a mask or get a vaccine.

No freedom is absolute. "Freedom" and "bodily autonomy" are limited freedoms EVEN in your own home.

For example, you don't have the "freedom" to murder or abuse family members or friends. You can have your children taken if you endanger them through your own laziness and neglect. But you have DRAMATICALLY more liberty and bodily autonomy in your home. Much of it ENDS, however, at your doorstep. When you are in the public sphere you must have a driver's license, you cannot wantonly endanger ANYONE through action OR negligance, and you are required to conduct yourself within the laws of the government, local and national. You can be arrested for as little as disorderly conduct -- so why not for spreading deadly disease?

Have I made this plain enough for the simplest of minds? Even for a child in kindergarten?

Yes you can absolutely be compelled to vaccinate before entering a country that requires it. Don't like it? Stay in your bedroom and post nonsense about tyranny on social media.

In a republic, sovereignty resides in the people … NOT the individual. Sovereignty of the individual is anarchism.

Allegory of the Republic. 1848. Sebastien Melchior Cornu. French. 1804-1870.