By Heidi Liscomb | Jan. 15 2023

The last three years of Life In America have been nothing if not an exercise in facing the truth about what and who we really are as a people and whether we’re still up to the thankless task of near constant oversight and engagement with our elected officials that is at the center of the role of being an American citizen. During those years, we participated in an unasked for, externally imposed analysis of our beliefs. We all faced this; regardless of our political persuasions, especially in the early days of lock down. The deep dive into the murky waters of what being free actually means came to us unbidden, and we had no choice but to examine our thoughts on the matter.  Some of us did not like what we found there in the sediment and had to determine whether we were prepared to re-examine our definition in order to accommodate a narrative coming from a government that nobody trusted, or go with it, waiting to see where we landed when the torrent had run its course. Many of us felt we had been swept up and away by a maelstrom that we had not expected and needed to work through the shock of the moment, refinding our footing in the mud.

Of course, these years have been about so many other things as well; they have brought to the forefront of the national conscience the growing suspicion that, in the wake of the Trump years, we weren’t, in fact, all on the same page. We began the arduous process of self-analysis on a meta scale. Who are we? Who did we think we were? Why did so much of what we believed no longer feel…true? This led to many of us questioning all of our sources of information and the suspicion that someone was lying about something and a bunch of somebodies were making an awful lot of money, but those somebodies didn’t happen to be anyone we knew personally. Personally, the people we knew were losing jobs, social status, friends and families, but the central, singular act of looking clearly at ourselves and our fellow citizens has been the sobering and sometimes terrifying component of the shared experience of this time. I’ve begun referring to my life as before covid and after covid, and mostly in the “before”, since there was so much more of it, but the “after” delineation is beginning to take on a length, shape and form in a way that I had hoped it would not.

For instance, there is the very stark reality of a changed social dynamic that must be acknowledged. What was once second nature to us, the everyday interactions that we all shared in both individual and group settings, have been altered in ways both tangible and not. There is the ever present masked ones in a variety of settings, seemingly incapable of giving up on the dystopian dream of the protective arms of big brother wrapped “just so” around their necks, in spite of “the science” declaring that they are ineffective, at best. They are a tangible and constant reminder that we are still living under the watchful eye of a suspect narrative with a dedicated following. Yet another physical example are the thick plastic shields in all public, medical, veterinary and other offices which continue to protect us from each other’s breath because, you know, air doesn’t travel up or around. Or under. These are the visible reminders of our reality now.

The intangibles are harder to pinpoint, more difficult to name and therefore nearly impossible to root out and address in the light of day, but they are there. Make no mistake. You know it when you feel it; in conversation with your old friend, who maybe isn’t such a friend anymore and who just can’t understand why you might be questioning the fifth booster shot that she has scheduled. Or the uncomfortable silence that ensues when you shake your head, “no”, you haven’t gotten the shot. For those of us who decided early on to take a “wait and see” attitude about the new vaccination that was being rolled out at “warp speed”, this is old news. We long ago became used to the fact that being unvaccinated was nearly akin to admitting to being related to a serial killer. Or being one yourself. Still, it’s a grim reminder of who we are and who everyone else might be.

Even though these things have become part and parcel of our new existence in these covidtimes, in this Great Reset, watching your elected officials draft bills that include language allowing the imprisonment of individuals based on their “health status”, based on their exercise of the right to bodily autonomy and refusal of medical procedures has the ability to create shock and awe. Yet, this is exactly what has happened here in New York State.

The New York State Legislature went into an in person session January 4, 2023 with several bills regarding medical freedom and bodily autonomy up for consideration. One of them, bill A416 which stated: “THE GOVERNOR OR HIS OR HER  DELE-GEE,  INCLUDING,  BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO THE COMMISSIONER OR THE HEADS OF LOCAL HEALTH DEPARTMENTS, MAY ORDER THE REMOVAL AND/OR DETENTION OF SUCH A PERSON OR OF A GROUP OF SUCH PERSONS BY ISSUING A SINGLE ORDER,  IDENTIFYING  SUCH  PERSONS  EITHER  BY  NAME  OR  BY  A  REASONABLY SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIVIDUALS OR GROUP BEING DETAINED. SUCH  PERSON  OR GROUP OF PERSONS SHALL BE DETAINED IN A MEDICAL FACILITY OR OTHER APPROPRIATE  FACILITY” was stricken from the record during the last session, but it needs to be said that it’s shocking that it was ever even drafted and had sponsors. Under what conditions and circumstances does apprehension of a person “by a reasonably specific description of the individuals or group” for a suspected health issue represent sane governance?

Furthermore, the fact that it was stricken as a bill from the legislature doesn’t mean that it won’t still be an issue going forward.  Nope, they’ve thought of that as well. The governor’s office has created an unelected body known as the Public Health and Health Policy Council which, to date, has never refused to enact any proposal the executive chambers have set before it. I’m certain that this will ensure that it *is* still an issue. So, when you see the “conspiracy theorists” holding signs and yammering on about “detention camps”, this is what they are talking about. But what does this mean? Well, I think we can rest assured that Governor Hochul will happily send this proposal to imprison citizens based on their health status to this council for review and approval, thereby avoiding the messy business of asking the citizenry what we really want. What else could we expect from this government? Perhaps I’m wrong. I certainly hope so.

Other bills that must be monitored like a smoldering fire in your backyard are A8378 which, if passed, will require a mandatory covid-19 vaccination for all citizens, A2240 which requires that all daycare attendees be vaccinated against influenza, S6495 which requires mandatory covid-19 vaccination for certain post-secondary students, S75 which relates to mandatory adult vaccination reporting requirements and, frankly, any health related bill sponsored by Brad Hoylman, the Democratic Senator from the 47th district who has also been the Chairman on Committee of Judiciary since 2017 and responsible for drafting multiple bills which seek to limit citizen participation and freedom to make choices regarding their health.

Another reminder of our changed societal landscape over these last three years was the lack of citizen participation at any level in government activity. From school board meetings and town board meetings which were held via the now ubiquitous “Zoom” to an entirely closed off legislature at the state and federal levels, We The People were forbidden from engaging in our participatory democracy. This year was the first since 2019 that ordinary citizens were allowed into the concourse area of the legislature in order to make their voices and wishes heard. The session opened officially on January 4, 2023 but it wasn’t until January 10 that the people gathered in the hallways of the legislative dungeon in order to reestablish their role as arbiters and guardians of the liberties that we all hope to enjoy for as long as there is a country in which to enjoy them. I decided to head up to Albany and see if I could get a pulse of what the participation levels might be and how the officials would be handling having to actually look at and talk to their constituents.

The day was clear and chilly; not the bone-chilling cold that we have sometimes withstood while standing in line to get through security in order to enter the capitol building, and the streets were empty. I found a parking spot, on the street, right away. There were no cars honking; flags flying off their bumpers as they drove around the perimeter of the building as in past years and no small groups of people gathering on the capitol lawn, plotting out the day’s activities. Speaking of people; there were no protesters outside the capitol, which was closed to the public for the day, or the legislative buildings which had to be accessed via a circuitous path across the street from the capitol. One of the five police officers positioned at the entrance of the capitol building advised me on how to access the entrance and as I made my way through an empty courtyard outside the Abrams building into the concourse, I reflected that the word must not have gotten out. I entered the concourse and saw that there were very few people at 9:45am. The rally was to begin at 10am. The people who were present were being corralled, cattle-style, behind what looked like metal stockyard gates, blocking off the entire hallway outside the entrance to the legislative building’s security area.

There were dozens of police officers patrolling the halls. They were clustered in groups of three at each end of the fences, clotting near each of the entrance ways and wandering up and down, gazing at the growing crowd. I made my way to the ticket office for the state of the state address; an event I had neither the desire nor time to attend, but had decided to just go for it and see if I could get in. Alas, no. I didn’t have the proper “invitation QR code sent by email from the governor’s office” and they couldn’t help me. I wasn’t ready to be hustled into the stockyard just yet, so I took a bunch of photographs and went into a coffee shop directly across from the rally area to get a cup of coffee. It was a fortuitous moment; I walked into an argument between the cashier and a customer who were arguing over whether “those people should be allowed in the building since we know they are unvaccinated.” Yep. It was one of those times. As I got my coffee, which sucked by the way, I was treated to an entire rant about how the unvaccinated shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near this building and the governor’s address had to be moved to the Assembly Chambers because they were so afraid of what the protesters might do to her. They might, “go wild.”  This man was clearly primed for a repeat of the January 6 moment, which is apparently going to go down in history as the Most Terrifying Event of the early 21st century. The cashier wasn’t buying it, however, and I’m happy to report that she said, “everyone has a right to their own opinion on this matter.”

When I returned to the rally, Brian Brase, the lead trucker of the US based People’s Convoy had just finished speaking and Mary Holland was taking the mic. Spirits were high. Following her speech, someone led the crowd in a song and people were chanting and clapping. The crowd had increased noticeably and there were now several hundred Medical Freedom activists milling about. They held signs, wore t-shirts with their message emblazoned on them and a gallery of gorgeous photographs had grown all along the fence rails. People were chatting and catching up. Names and contact information were exchanged. Everyone was smiling. Things were looking up. As the rally wound down, everyone began making their way through the doors and security in order to make their way to their legislative representative’s offices; I had a good long chat with my newly minted senator’s aides and made an appointment to meet with him one on one next week to discuss my pet project of restoring religious liberty to New Yorkers in the form of a religious exemption to vaccination, but the offices were mostly unoccupied as they were all in session and then heading to the assembly chambers for the state of the state address.

As I reflect on this event, I feel a nervousness that I hadn’t anticipated. There is so much at stake now; so many freedoms that we stand to lose if our government is allowed to just steamroll ahead with an agenda that we’ve neither reviewed nor approved, and I worry that the fact that nobody was on the streets or lining the halls of the chambers and that the Medical Freedom activists were the only protesters to be seen in the entire legislature on Lobby Day is a sign that the citizenry has lost their desire to continue the never ending work of securing liberty for another day, for another generation. I hope I’m wrong, but I fear that I’m not. Being an American is exhausting work, but letting it all go is simply unthinkable.