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The Washington Post broke the story this week that "the Biden administration and private companies are working to develop a standard way of handling credentials" ...aka vaccine passports.
They, of course, think it's a great idea.
WAPO explains, "The effort has gained momentum amid President Biden's pledge that the nation will start to regain normalcy this summer." And many companies will be requiring vaccine passports to enter their airplane, store, or whatever.
But would being required to carry a passport as an American citizen, to move about America, be normal?
There are looming questions about this. And there's one that seems to have been missed.
Let's take an honest look at this "new normal" that President Biden is promising.
Be informed, not misled.
"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." Ronald Reagan.
The Washington Post says Biden's coronavirus coordinator, Jeff Zients, will be announcing updates in the coming days.
The effort to create "normal" has a name. It's called the "Passport Initiative."
This week the White House declined to answer questions about the passport initiative, but said:
"Our role is to help ensure that any solutions in this area should be simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and on paper, and designed to protect people's privacy."
The passports, the Post says, "are expected to be free and available through applications for smartphones, which could display a scannable code similar to an airline boarding pass. Americans without smartphone access should be able to print out the passports, developers say."
"Proof of vaccination," Jeff Bezos' newspaper says, "could bring peace of mind to restaurant workers and customers, experts say...The busboy, the janitor, the waiter that works at the restaurant, want to be surrounded by employees that are going back to work safely."
A physician tells the newspaper, "And knowing that the people coming back to their businesses are 'safe' and vaccinated---would be a great scenario."
The World Health Organization also thinks it's a great idea.
A World Health Organization-led effort and a digital pass devised by IBM that is being tested in New York state---are rapidly moving forward, even as the White House deliberates about how best to track the shots and avoid the perception of a government mandate to be vaccinated.
"Other countries," we are told, "are racing ahead with their own passport plans, which the European Union is pledging to release digital certificates that would allow for summer travel."
Free software is said to be available by April.
The Vaccination Credential Initiative includes the Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, and more than 225 other organizations, many of who have agreed to use the digital codes being made available by Microsoft and others.
Officials from participating companies---even NASA, are already addressing the "confusing array" of efforts underway, suggesting that a "global approach" would be much more efficient in helping people experience a return to "normal" and freedom.
Biden is being counseled that if public perception becomes that of seeing this as a government initiative, it will not succeed.
One slide in the government presentation says: "A chaotic and ineffective vaccine credential approach could hamper our pandemic response by undercutting health safety, slowing economic recovery, and undermining public trust and confidence."
So the Biden administration is driving the Vaccine Credential Initiative while driving the effort to appear not to be involved.
The issues as I see them.
Carrying documents to prove you have had various shots is not a new idea to me personally. For a period of time in my life and ministry, I carried documents proving I had been given dozens of various shots to enter each country---particularly third world countries, so I could start, build, and expand Christian churches all over the world (149 to be exact). I felt God had called me to do that at that point in my life, and the shots and documentation, visa clearance, etc. were part of the process.
But here's the difference. I wasn't concerned about the country taking an inordinate role in my life, even though these governments had already done so with their own citizens. I didn't live there. I was visiting. The people who lived there---whether in Africa, Asia, Central America, or wherever in the world I happened to be---always lived in some degree of fear and bondage---government oppression, sometimes unthinkable oppression, nothing close to what we Americans have experienced.
Do we really want to walk down that dirty, dark path? Progressives never stop "progressing" toward their agenda which is about their personal power, not your rights to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
As the Biden administration has already acknowledged, they are committed to shaping the narrative and perception of this "Credential" initiative in order to address our conservative concerns. Their efforts are also designed to push conservatives who are not planning to get the vaccine toward doing so. You can expect that effort to be ramped up in the coming days.
It began on MSNBC yesterday.
MSNBC to Christians: What would Jesus do?
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called people resisting the government overreach "lunatics" and "idiots" yesterday morning on NBC's cable channel.
He then invoked Jesus, saying those who are not doing everything to prevent the spread of the virus are "doing the opposite of what Jesus taught."
He told his conservatives and evangelical Christian viewers (who supported Trump):
"You had to be stupid. You had to believe the stupid guy...If you still believe in God, maybe get on your knees and pray and ask why it is that your thought system, that your belief system has been so corrupted that you follow QAnon, that you follow conspiracy theories, that you believe liars on Facebook instead of believing the truth. Jesus said I am the way, the Truth."
About the truth. And the hypocrisy.
The radical so-called progressives never tire of demanding that any form of voter identification be burned at the stake.
Why? Because it will suppress voter turnout. It will unduly eliminate people from voting, therefore it's also racist.
They're against voter ID but see the Vaccine Credential Initiative as "progressive", providing a path forward for individual freedom.
It's nonsense and doublespeak.
The Left is not working to create "some kind of normalcy this summer" at all. They want control.
Matt Vespa wrote this yesterday:
"What about the freedoms of those people who cannot get the vaccine? What about the children under 16? They can't get the shot. What about those who might have a religious or moral objection? What about couples who might want to get pregnant? Are these people just screwed? Those with passports can travel, but the unvaccinated cannot? Will there be a national vaccine mandate?
We can easily see where this initiative can go and will if left unchecked, but how does the Left reconcile pushing the idea of "credentials" for traveling freely in our own country---while declaring ID for voting is racist...and oppressive?
In a sane culture, the Left would be killing their argument against voter ID by pushing their agenda of requiring an ID to travel freely.
But there's not much sanity in today's culture of confusion.
Confused?
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.