I never missed an episode of LOST. If you were a fan like me, you instantly recognized that sequence of numbers that played a pivotal role in the plot. If you never watched the show, the survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island. Sound familiar?
I live on an island. It’s a pretty small island, only 597 square miles, about the size of San Franciso/Oakland. Very soon, we — like the survivors o LOST — could very well be stranded, stuck on a 597-square-mile island with no way off. Some highly visible, well-connected people seriously propose that unvaccinated people be restricted from boarding a commercial airplane. In an NPR interview, President Obama’s former assistant secretary for homeland security Juliette Kayyem said, “we have to begin to assert burdens on those who are choosing not to be vaccinated… the unvaccinated now must know there is a cost… so airline travel, if they want to see their family at the holidays, is one area that we should begin to look at.” That is dangerously dictatorial talk.
It might not be as much of an issue for those who live on the U.S. mainland, where options exist. If I lived in Alabama and was denied the ability to travel by air, I could theoretically get in my private vehicle and drive to my destination, albeit far less convenient and time-consuming, but a viable option. That option does not exist for the residents of the 50th State. We can’t even travel to a neighboring county (another Hawaiian island) without commercial airline travel.
The forces of big government will continue to impose greater and more inflexible mandates and restrictions until the people say, “ENOUGH! No more!” We are close to that point now.