Masks are starting to be mandated again this fall across the country.
Do I have to wear a mask again? Should I just wear a mask to avoid being heckled or harassed? What if wearing a mask makes me feel unwell? These are just a few of the questions that people are still grappling with as rumors surge of mask and COVID restrictions returning.
Here’s the answer: You decide what is best for your health and the health of your family.
Stand for Health Freedom and HEALNC believe that wearing a mask should be an individual’s choice. Mandatory mask policies are an insult to constitutional rights.
Enforcement is emotional
In 2020-2022, those who were seen in public without a mask were judged and discriminated against. Judgment doesn’t ask questions about an individual’s medical needs or question the common sense of trying to stop something you can’t see with the naked eye using a porous piece of cloth or paper. Harassment and discrimination thrived while fellow Americans policed each other, creating an environment of fear. We can stop that from happening again.
Masks are not proven effective and can even cause considerable harm
Policy versus science
When people say the science is settled, what they really mean is they have made a policy decision and cherry-picked “science” to fit their agenda.
There are still unanswered questions and concerns about the harmful effect of masks in many areas. They can affect speech development in children and have psychological ramifications in both children and adults. We still don’t know the effects of rebreathing your own exhaled carbon dioxide or the dangers of the resulting reduction in oxygen intake. It’s unclear what harms may come from known carcinogens in masks or whether masks increase infection rates.
This echoes World Health Organization (WHO) guidance published on January 29, 2020, titled, “Advice on the use of masks in the community, during home care and in healthcare settings in the context of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.” In it, the WHO says, “Wearing medical masks when not indicated may cause unnecessary cost, procurement burden and create a false sense of security that can lead to neglecting other essential measures such as hand hygiene practices.” Furthermore, the January 2020 WHO guidance stated, “Cloth (e.g., cotton or gauze) masks are not recommended under any circumstance.”
Individual health is the responsibility of the individual, not the state
With unbridled governmental control from 2020-2022 — under the guise of emergency orders needed to curb coronavirus — citizens from coast to coast saw their civil and religious rights trampled upon. An onslaught of executive orders has shaped nearly every aspect of our personal lives, from where we could go and what activities we were allowed to enjoy, to how we educated our children, earned a living, or worshipped.
Medical protocol was restricted, depriving doctors of the ability to practice medicine and removing Americans’ right to choose how to care for their health.
Although the government plays a role in controlling the spread of infectious illness, adults are responsible for their own health. Each person has the right to responsibly make choices about what precautions and perceived risks they take. Government officials cannot direct individual health decisions, and granting them this power is dangerous. Individuals are much more qualified than public servants to weigh the risks and benefits of their own personal actions. Even in the infamous case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905), it was not held that government could force compliance with medical mandates. The court held that Henning Jacobson could be fined for not complying with a mandate, which is very different from saying government has the ability to ignore the constitutional right to informed consent.
Public officials should not impose mandates to seek compliance. Mandates perpetuate the idea that individuals lack the moral or intellectual capacity to make sound decisions for themselves and their children, so the state needs to do it for them. Individuals are capable of making responsible decisions and those decisions must take a person’s whole health into account.
Force, coercion, and censorship are the tools of tyrants. Our country was built on the foundation of open discussion and different ideas leading to the best possible outcomes for Americans, as bad ideas would weed themselves out. Truth and good ideas have no need for mandates.
The health of the individual cannot be sacrificed for the collective. We can only have a healthy society when that society is made up of healthy individuals. Health is a personal right and responsibility. It is not something that we should look to the government to bestow on us or guarantee.
So what do I do when I’m told to wear a mask, but I don’t want to?
Remember, you are in charge of your health and that of your family, and the CDC has no authority over you, your community, or your state. Mask mandates are being enforced by individuals, communities, and states who are falling in lockstep with policy decisions that the federal government itself has no authority to enforce. These policy decisions are not law, and the Constitution protects the right of the states and of individuals to make health decisions.
Check out what happened in Collier County, Florida, for an idea of what it looks like when a community comes together and says, “No” to federal policies that harm its community. They are now a sanctuary county for health freedom.
Don’t let fear and peer pressure make this decision for you. Work through your fear, then look at the science and decide for yourself. Each situation where individuals are expected to wear a mask is different, but the fact remains: We lose rights we don’t fight for. Read SHF’s “Solutions” for mandates for inspiration and guidance on how to stand up for your rights.
The Constitution is on your side. It’s a breach of an individual’s privacy and autonomy to be unable to go into public settings without being discriminated against. And banning people from entering or participating in society because they don’t wear a mask violates their constitutional rights.
It’s time to stand; Urge your lawmakers to make face coverings voluntary
Never before has it been so important for you to stand up for your rights! Mandatory medicine and mandated interventions such as social distancing and mask-wearing have no place in a free society. Citizens have the right to make responsible decisions about what is best for themselves and their children based on their own unique circumstances.
It is unethical and unconstitutional to force healthy citizens to abide by measures that can result in physical and emotional harm, trampling on their ability to move freely throughout society without discrimination. For those with deeply held religious beliefs, mask mandates violate their
ability to abide by natural law and follow their convictions to walk in faith, not fear. As such, the decision to wear a mask is a highly personal one and should not be universally mandated; measures that are meant to protect the community as a whole are ineffective if they hurt individuals in that community.
Email your lawmakers now to urge them to do their part to make sure that mask-wearing remains voluntary.