Candidates use sound bites and catch phrases to try to reach voters. Unfortunately, the short phrases can be vague and misleading. Voters just assume what the candidate is saying is the same thing they want to hear.
This is the second in a series on campaign words. This time we look at the campaign promise “I’LL PROTECT FREEDOM.”
Do you think that promise is clear?
The recent debate over forced COVID vaccinations shows a promise to protect freedom can be unclear. Several bills including SB731 by Senator Bob Ballinger were filed to prohibit corporations and governments from requiring workers to submit to the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition for keeping their jobs. SB731 would have created a right to privacy to prohibit employers from even asking employees about their vaccine status. Some advocates of the bill cited the principle of individual freedom. But those who favored letting corporations and government force workers to submit to the vaccines also cited freedom as a reason for opposing the bills. To them a corporation or government should have the “freedom” to require employees to submit to the vaccine as a condition of employment. (You can see how they voted by following the link.)
The debate over mandatory vaccines shows you need to know whether in protecting freedom the candidate will give priority to corporporate freedoms or to individual freedoms.
To complicate matters further, pro-abortion advocates site freedom in wanting to allow women to terminate their unborn children right up to the point of birth. They are “pro-choice,” as in the freedom to choose whether to give birth or abort a child.
When a candidate says “I will protect freedom” don’t assume you know what the candidate means. Ask the candidate for examples and ask whose freedoms are his or her priority.
It is not hard to ask for clarification. Most if not all candidates have social media accounts and email. We have found many politicians are happy to have an opportunity to clarify their positions. When you ask, please be respectful and tell the candidate where you live so the candidate will know you live in the candidate’s district.
