Though they subsequently backed away from the proposal, Rhode Island Democrats recently put forth a bill that would have punished the parents of children who were not vaccinated against COVID-19.  Had the measure been enacted, it would have financially crippled these parents by doubling their personal income tax.  As a further kick in the pants, it would have also required parents of unvaccinated offspring to pay a monthly fine of $50.

State senator Samuel Bell was the lead legislator backing the bill, which would have mandated that all Rhode Island residents, workers, and taxpayers submit to a COVID-19 vaccination — as well as any and all subsequent boosters that the state's director of the department of health shall have required, apparently in perpetuity — or else be subjected to pecuniary purgatory.

Exemptions to the mandate would have been nearly impossible to obtain, given that, due to a provision baked into the bill, parents would have had to have three different doctors state on the record that their child was "not fit for immunization," and then have the child sign that statement.

Even then, the Ocean State's department of health would have been authorized to investigate each and every individual case and could have summarily rejected any given petition — and reinstated the monetary penalties on the minor's parents or guardians.

Moreover, public and private employers were to be charged with helping the government enforce the legislation.  Any employee not working remotely would have been forced to provide proof of vaccination.  The employer would have been forced to terminate any recalcitrant worker who refused to have an experimental gene therapy drug injected into his body — or face a monthly fine of $5,000.

Talk about tyranny!  The United States was, uniquely, founded on the concepts of limited government and individual rights as granted to us by our Creator.  Today, we are suffering the consequences of an incomprehensibly massive, virtually unlimited government that refuses to recognize individual rights and autonomy while it emphasizes groupthink and tribalism in the guise of "intersectionality" and "multiculturalism."

If the government could arbitrarily double the taxes of the unvaccinated, there would be nothing it could not do.  "We the people" would have ceded control of our finances, freedom, futures...and very bodies and souls...to the elites who gleefully rule over us.  What would stop our elected representatives — or, increasingly, unelected bureaucrats in the Deep State — from deciding that those of us who own firearms or watch Fox News should have their tax rates doubled.  Or tripled.  Or that people who smoke cigarettes should have their personal income taxes quadrupled while those who smoke marijuana should have theirs halved.

Or that those who listen to Joe Rogan podcasts or subscribe to The New York Post should pay six times the taxes of those who take to Twitter to profess their undying devotion to Dr. Fauci or The New York Times.

This country was founded in large part because colonists refused to abide taxation without representation.  It will effectively cease to exist unless we here today highly resolve to be as bold and full of integrity as they were.

Photo credit: Morrow Long, CC BY-SA 2.0 license.