Rep. Thomas Massie says Republicans are being hypocrites in supporting the current border security bill, not because he doesn’t want better border security, but because it includes E-Verify, a provision in which the federal government would force employers to track work authorization.
The Washington Examiner reported Monday evening, “A Massie spokesperson confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the Kentucky Republican would not be voting for the bill because of those E-Verify provisions. In a tweet on Sunday, Massie compared the E-Verify provisions to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”
Republicans are about to make a huge mistake.
Biden forced millions of Americans to take VACCINES by threatening their JOBS, and turning EMPLOYERS into enforcers.
Imagine giving Biden the ultimate on/off switch for EMPLOYMENT called E-verify.
Might as well call it V-verify.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 7, 2023
Massie’s right. Republicans either want the federal government to have the extra and unconstitutional power to force businesses to command its employees to take certain actions… or they don’t. It was illegal and immoral when the demand was getting vaccinated and it would be just as illegal and immoral regarding E-Verify.
The libertarian-leaning congressman followed up with another tweet in which he shared the Examiner story.
I will NOT vote to require EVERY American to get Biden’s permission if they want to work.
Specifically, I’m opposed to E-verify. Giving the federal government more power over YOU is a mistake in my opinion.
I support border security, but not E-verify.https://t.co/V0hQdA53Za
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 8, 2023
Giving the government more power – giving Biden or any other president such power – would be as grand a mistake as Massie insists.
During the pandemic, progressives high and low generally were typically unabashedly in favor of using state power at various levels to force employers and individuals to adhere to certain COVID-19 restrictions and requirements – mask, vaccines, shutdowns and more.
Now it appears they’re even moving toward wanting government regulation of speech. Just last week Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said with a straight face that the government should regulate Fox News.
Befuddling as it is, that’s where Democrats’ collective head seems to be now. The Constitution and First Amendment be damned.
National E-verify bill contains vague references to two pilot programs of non-photographic technology you must use to prove your identity to DHS in order to get a job.
What is it? Fingerprints? DNA? Retina? Why not just say it in the bill? Is E-Verify actually Patriot Act 2.0? pic.twitter.com/0vKxxkWiM3
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 9, 2023
There should be a major oppositional party that resists calls for the government to dictate our most basic human actions – not agree with them when it suits their purposes.
In retrospect, given what we’ve learned about the longtime lingering effects on kids and others who suffered through many pandemic policies, most of the government compulsion that happened in recent years looks even more authoritarian and unforgivable than it did at the time.
Thomas Massie is right that Republicans shouldn’t replicate that kind of unlimited governance with E-Verify.
“Might as well call it V-Verify.” Indeed.
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