The war on personal liberty ramps up: California bill seeks to end vaccine exemptions

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Despite its notoriety for being one of the least free states in America, California does still have some lingering freedoms in certain regards. Ever since California mandated that all teachers and students be vaccinated against polio in 1961, the state made sure to allow certain exemptions. In fact, California has some of the best vaccine exemption laws. Residents living there are allowed to keep their children vaccine free, for either religious or personal reasons; a status which it shares with 19 other states.

But unfortunately, in California, no individual right can remain untouched forever. After the measles outbreak in Disneyland, the busybody freak show is out in full force, and they want to cull as many vaccination exemptions as they can.

Senate Bill 277 does not specifically address the religious exemption. But if passed as now drafted, the bill would end all "personal belief exemptions," including religious exemptions, said Sen. Richard Pan, a Sacramento Democrat and pediatrician who co-authored the bill with Sen. Ben Allen, D-Redondo Beach.

"There is no religious exemption in the statute," Pan told this newspaper Thursday. But he indicated that might change as the debate over the legislation plays out over the next several months. "I'm certainly open to the discussion about the necessity and the nature of any proposed religious exemption."

That could come through "the legislative process or the governor himself, if he wishes to be engaged early on," Pan said. "It's up to him."

When Pan, then an assemblyman, carried a bill in 2012 aimed at tightening vaccine policy, Gov. Jerry Brown signed it. But he directed state health officials to maintain the ease of religious exemptions.

Asked if Brown believes that the issue of religious exemptions needs to be revisited, Jim Evans, a spokesman for the governor, would only say that "the governor believes that vaccinations are profoundly important and a major public health benefit and any bill that reaches his desk will be closely considered."

Sometimes it's just painful to hear these people discussing the destruction of our rights so casually, but there it is. The idea that our freedoms are at the whims of legislators like these is just unbelievable, but I guess that's par for the course in California. The politicians there (as well as plenty of the residents) have zero respect for individual freedom, and it's frightening to think that a state like that holds so much influence over the rest of the country.

And the debate over vaccines themselves is hardly relevant. Even if they worked perfectly, and didn't cause autism, and truly helped build herd immunity, this is still highly unethical. Everyone should have the right to choose what they put into their bodies, and every parent should have a say in how they raise their children.

Fortunately not everyone is going along with this, and contrary to popular belief, California isn't brimming with collectivist sheep as far as the eye can see. Those people just happen to be a majority that forces their beliefs down the throats of everyone else.

Keith Howe, 59, a San Jose chiropractor, has long opposed efforts to impose vaccinations requirements. He said when Pan introduced his legislation in 2012, "I sent him a scathing letter saying this is not Communist China and he is not Mao Zedong. He is violating the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."

My sentiments exactly.