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In my last post I continued discussing some of the issues that exist with the implementation of the second key element of democracy in society.
As a reminder, in general there are four key elements that make up a democracy:
- Free and frequent elections by which representatives are chosen by receiving a majority vote by the people;
- An equal society where people are rewarded on merit and not by wealth, privilege or status;
- People have the freedom to make their own choices subject to the laws of their country; and
- Limitations on power exist to ensure that Governments, Institutions or other powerful societal figures/forces cannot limit the civil liberties of the people
In The Troubles of Democracy – Part 3, I went through some of the issues of implementing an equal society where merit is not adversely impacted by wealth, privilege and/or status.
In this post I want to move on to the third key element of a democracy, which is where people have freedom to make their own choices subject to the laws of their country. This is perhaps a good time to discuss some of the issues with this element in practice given the current COVID vaccination situation.
A key question to ask is whether, in a democracy, a Government can mandate their citizens to get vaccinated? Does a vaccine mandate infringe on the 3rd key element of democracy by taking away an individual’s freedom to make their own choice?
If you ignore the anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists then this would be the central question driving the protesters of vaccination mandates. How can I be forced to do something, as it takes away my freedom of choice that is central to democracy?
One way Governments have tried to get around this is by relying on private industry to mandate vaccination for their workers. This gets around the dilemma of impacting freedom of choice, as a worker can choose quit their job if they don’t want to get vaccinated. Sure this impacts the wellbeing of the individual and their family but it gets around the issue. But what if all companies mandate vaccination? Guess that means if you want to exercise your right of freedom you have to be unemployed and unable to provide for your family. That sounds like a great way to force people to get vaccinated without having to face the issue of infringing on one of the key elements of democracy!
Another question to ask is whether a Government can introduce a law requiring COVID vaccination. This is a tricky question to answer as, in a democracy, a Government can only introduce laws to prevent one citizen causing potential harm to another. For example, driving dangerously or assaulting someone or stealing someone else’s possessions.
Can a Government make a claim that not getting the COVID vaccination can cause harm to another? The questions are getting trickier for sure! On one side a Government could argue that unvaccinated people can spread COVID more than vaccinated people, so that could be interpreted as causing harm. On the other side the current COVID vaccinations are not designed to prevent the spread of COVID, so even a vaccinated person can pass it one even if the risk of passing it on is less.
COVID infections are on the rise in the EU and Austria has become the first country to impose mandatory COVID vaccinations and Germany may be set to follow suit. This is going to be interesting to watch and see how this unfolds, as no doubt there will be a lot of people that will protest this mandate because it goes against a key element of democracy.
So where does this leave us? It takes us back to the trouble of democracy, as the 3rd key element means a Government should not be able to take away it’s citizen’s freedom of choice. That said, during times like a pandemic or any other situation where there is a need for people to do the best for their community, how do we ensure that everyone does what is right for their neighbour without infringing on their freedom of choice?
