Covid vaccine (and mask) mandates are political

In case you don't want to read my recent (and long!) blog post None Dare Call It Politics, here's the gist of my argument. Vaccine mandates, and mask mandates, and quarantines, and lock downs--they're all political despite the countless assertions to the contrary you'll hear from some of their proponents.

They're political in two senses.

The first sense is that they've become an important partisan issue. That's unfortunate, but it's true. People who say mandates aren't "political" in that sense are actually saying mandates shouldn't be political. 

The second sense is that mandates are an imposition on others. They're a form of compulsion to convince, cajole, and coerce others to do something they otherwise wouldn't choose to do. The reason mandates are instituted in the first place is that others' decisions not to get vaccinated, not to wear masks, and not to be careful--those decisions affect still others. They're not wholly individual choices. Third parties are affected by others' actions. That fact puts mandates into play.

No, they're not all government-imposed. So to the extent they're not, I suppose they don't meet that definition of "political." But we have a third-party interest affected in an indirect but very important way by the actions of others. That in my view is the essence of "political."

That's all separate from the claim about whether mandates are unfair or whether they're justified. It's possible for something to be "political" and yet worthy of doing. It's possible for some measure to be coercive and yet necessary.

If you ask me, our current mandate regime is probably too mild. The mandates that I've personally seen operate mostly as suggestions or polite requests. Some of them are becoming stricter. I think that's a good thing, on balance, as long as we keep our eyes on the goal of public safety and the effectiveness of the mandates and not on punishment for the sake of punishment.

I'm not rehashing anti-vaccination talking points for the sake of rehashing anti-vaccination talking points. If anything, I'm pointing out a way to strengthen the pro-vaccination, pro-mandate argument. Don't deny what everyone on some level knows. Saying mandates are political (in the second sense) is actually a justification for mandates. They're necessary because they are political.

Mandates are political. Accept it. Own it. Embrace it. Above all, justify it. Demonstrate why they're necessary. Refusing to do so makes your support for mandates seem like a dishonest power grab.