The erosion of our founding principles as a country and society continues. The latest entry into the march towards socialism is the National Football League. I know many of the people running the teams and the league went to school around the same time that I did, thus I know they were taught about the founding principles of this nation. Unfortunately they've either forgotten or they have put politics above principles.

Yesterday the NFL announced their policy regarding COVID and the potential impact upon their season. To say it is harsh is an understatement, especially in light of the way they are ignoring individual rights. To summarize the policy, if an unvaccinated player or staff member contracts COVID and then spreads it to enough of the team or staff that the game must be cancelled, that team will forfeit the game, their paychecks for that game, and the organization must pay the lost revenue suffered by the opposing team. That is going to run into the 10s of millions of dollars. Interestingly if a vaccinated player contracts COVID, spreading it to others, there is no penalty. Talk about ignoring science.

The science shows that even vaccinated people can contract and spread the disease to others. The science overwhelmingly shows that a person who contracted and recovered from COVID has a stronger immunity not only for contracting the virus but spreading it to others. At best, the current shots designed to vaccinate people are around 65% effective. Those who have developed antibodies the natural way are north of 80% effective.

That leads us to the question of how are they going to prove who contracted the virus first? How can they identify it was someone who had taken the vaccine as opposed to someone who didn't? It sounds to me, based upon reading the policy and statements made by league officials that unvaccinated players or staff will be assumed guilty. Odd, I thought innocent until proven guilty was a core principle of our nation's legal system.

Another core principle was (I use was deliberately) individual rights and the government's responsibility to protect those rights. It is clear that the NFL, with the support of the players union, is putting the group and business before an individual's rights. Several players, such as DeAndre Hopkins and Sam Darnold, have already said they do not want to take the vaccine. Now both have expressed concern about their future in the league. Both have studied the science and consulted with their personal physicians in coming to their decision. Yet the league has decided that they do not have the right to make the decision that is best for themselves.

Understand, I have been a big supporter of business in general and the business owners' right to set policies that best serve the business. The NFL is doing what they believe to be correct, but it is based solely upon political considerations and not medical science or respect for individual rights. The NFL currently has exemptions from the antitrust laws, and they do not want to lose those. If they were to stand up to the Washington political cartel, they would be in very real danger of killing their cash cow.

They are also ignoring the law in requiring employees to prove they are vaccinated. An employer cannot ask questions that would reveal an illness or health condition of an employee. They can ask if the employee can perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. Your personal health information is protected under several federal laws, yet the NFL and many private businesses are demanding to know your health condition.

I have heard several players and former players say this will be a problem in the locker room. Think about losing a game check because somebody made a decision that you have been brainwashed into believing is selfish and puts their individual rights ahead of the group or team. Someone like a Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers could lose several million dollars, which is a lot of money, and I would hate to be the person being blamed for causing the outbreak. My argument is that that game check is more important to the marginal player making the league minimum salary. If the highly paid players don't have savings built up that is their fault.

But the idea that the individual must ignore the decision that is best for themselves in order to acquiesce to the group's wishes goes against everything this nation was founded upon. It is a further step towards putting the collective ahead of the individual. The fact that so many people would follow that philosophy willingly proves that many of them are ignorant not only of history, not only of our founding principles, but are also ignorant of the consequences of their actions. Losing freedoms to acquiesce to what a government or political body tells you is best for the collective leads only to tyranny and misery.

This is a direct reflection of what the politicians are doing in every aspect of our society. They want to put the collective ahead of the individual. You might think it makes sense when it comes to the health of you and your family but you are wrong. No one wants anybody else to suffer because of their actions, but bad things do happen to good people. Respecting individual rights, freedom, and liberty does not mean that the larger group will suffer. Suffering will happen in any society or group and history tells us that when we enter into socialism or communism, more people suffer than in free societies. Remember, we as a nation have helped each other without being forced to by the government and that has led to us being the greatest nation in the history of the world. We cannot let the politicians take that away from us.