Michael Graham
The Natural Truth
2 September 2009
I always take reports from World Net Daily with a grain of salt, but this story about Massachusetts legislation granting incredible powers to the government includes a link to the actual bill.
Here’s how WND describes it:
A “pandemic response bill” currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency, compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance.
If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.
Here it is. If you have 5 minutes, give it a quick read and tell me if it concerns you as much as it does me. I understand that if you’re facing a health emergency, you sometimes take unusual actions. But do you really have to abandon fundamental constitutional protections for citizens like getting warrants before you break into their homes?
I can imagine extreme circumstances where some of these actions might be warranted. But I can also imagine far less extreme circumstances in which Nanny State liberals would use this power to force their agenda.
Read the bill (which has already passed the state senate, by the way) and tell me what you think.
