Virginia's Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares announced plans last week to challenge President Joe Biden's unconstitutional vaccine mandate once sworn into office later this month.
The two said in a statement:
Instead of supporting state and local governments’ efforts to protect the lives and livelihoods of their citizens, the Biden administration has resorted to unlawful vaccine mandates that force hardworking Virginians to walk away from their paychecks. President Biden’s [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] CMS mandate, ignores the hospital systems’ long-established policies designed to keep staff and patients safe and threatens the tenure of essential medical personnel at a time when staffing shortages threaten the health and safety of Virginians.
Throughout the joint announcement, the two divulge their strongly held beliefs that “the Federal government cannot impose its will and restrict the freedoms of Americans and that Virginia is at its best when people are allowed to make the best decisions for their families or businesses.”
“After the January 15th inauguration, the Commonwealth of Virginia will quickly move to protect Virginians’ freedoms and challenge President Biden’s unlawful CMS, [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] OSHA, and Head Start vaccine mandates. Removing some of the staffing barriers to our hospitals will provide much needed relief for our overworked medical professionals,” they added.
The move to challenge the president's illegal mandate by Virginia's incoming leaders perfectly encapsulates America's federalist system at work.
When crafting the U.S. Constitution, the Founding Fathers wisely structured a system where the states were to be provided significant powers to push back against an overreaching federal leviathan seeking to encroach on its citizens' natural rights.
This utilization of state authority is exactly what Convention of States is all about. Rather than going to the same old politicians in Washington for solutions, COSA seeks to tackle America's biggest problems from the state level through respectful communication with our local representatives.
And while the promised legal challenges from Youngkin and Miyares are welcome, the fight against federal tyranny can't be left up to politicians.
It's incumbent upon each and every one of us to take a stand within our own communities and in our own ways to fight for the country our Framers left us.
Our most powerful tool? An Article V Convention of States. Sign the petition below to join the movement!
Shawn Fleetwood is the State Content Writer for Convention of States Virginia.
