Speaking Personally

This is the Line for Me. Where is it for You?
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. The Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America
At the August School Board meeting in Willow Springs, one member, Matt Hobson, argued valiantly against mandatory masking on school buses based on principle, from ideas about personal freedoms. He was ultimately voted down because the practicality of requiring masks was deemed to be a small requirement when compared to the looming threat of a lawsuit or intervention from a federal agency.
Before I continue, I will first state that I am unqualified to make recommendations regarding any health matter, including wearing a mask. We know that virtually every health care professional supports wearing them to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Personally, I wear one when it is required of me. In our current surge of cases, I have changed my daily life and made choices designed to prevent the spread of the virus.
But this is not about masks.
It is about government mandates that are reaching into our daily lives, into our children’s daily lives. I am writing this to caution you against the slippery slope of allowing small infringements of our American liberties.
My problem is not the masks. If the duly elected school board, like the school board in West Plains, had weighed the options and decided to require masks because they believed it to be the best thing for our community, I would not be writing this. That is not what happened.
Instead, very legitimate concerns over the hell a federal agency could rain down on our little town was the focus of the conversation. In their own words, they voted to follow a federal mandate of doubtful authority to protect the district from a potential lawsuit.
I would not have wanted to trade places with the men tasked with voting on this, and I do not fault them for the way the vote fell. Ideas about American liberty did not win the day. Reasonable concern for the consequences of exercising those liberties won the day.
As we watched the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan unfold, we all had ample cause to reflect on the preciousness of our American liberties this week. As a college-educated female business owner, the oppression we see unfolding in the Middle East chills me. This is not Tehran in the 70s. This is Afghanistan in 2021. Watching it makes me want to fight tooth and nail for the right to live my life the way I choose. For your right to live your life the way you choose.
A federal agency issued a mandate that forced my local school board into voting for the safe choice in order to avoid a lawsuit, and that is where the line is for me. The first line of local government has been breached and forced into action by people we did not elect. People who have never been to Howell County and do not share our values.
This is where the line is for me. I am speaking up. Where is the line for you? What can a federal agency ask you to do that you will refuse?
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