What air travel needs right now is more restrictions, said 37 Democratic lawmakers in a letter to President Biden, saying, “as the nation approaches holiday season, we ask that you put in place requirements for airline passengers to provide proof of full vaccination against COVID or a negative test to board a domestic flight.” Their call for further travel restrictions doesn’t just unhappily coincide with the holiday travel season; they explicitly cite that as a reason to enact the restrictions.

These would-be scrooges should have asked the airlines. Just as retailers and other businesses who survive on December sales begged the Biden administration to postpone the employer vaccine mandate until January, so airlines “have come out months ago and said that they were opposed to the travel mandate,” said Congressman Garret Graves (R-La.). Businesses live in the real world, where they must respond to market forces if they want to survive. Therefore, they recognize (far more than D.C. politicians) that most Americans who haven’t gotten vaccinated don’t appear to be changing their minds, regardless of the carrots and sticks the federal government wields.

“Many Americans remain reluctant to spending [sic] extended periods of time in enclosed public spaces due to the risk of COVID-19 exposure,” continues the letter. Assuming that’s true, whose fault is that? Graves, a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said top researchers have testified before Congress “that airline travel is safe, that they effectively had not found any cases of where transmission happened on an airplane.” Air cabin ventilation entirely recycles the air within seconds; any infected air doesn’t linger long enough to infect anyone else.

But the Democrats’ claim is more a symptom of their “Forever Covidism” than an accurate reflection of what Americans are thinking. COVID is no longer the foremost issue in voters’ minds, as the 2021 elections and recent polls have shown. In fact, there are probably more Americans “reluctant to spend extended periods of time in enclosed public spaces” because they’re required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.

Let’s face it; Democrats are simply pulling power levers for the fun of it. The Democrats who wrote this letter didn’t do it because Americans are too scared to fly. They did it to punish the unvaccinated, so they can’t see their families for the holidays without jumping through extra hoops to show proof of a negative test. Just like the U.S. Navy is withholding promotions and pay from the .5 percent of unvaccinated, active-duty sailors. All for a virus with an over 98 percent survival rate.

Speaking of tests, Graves warned that if we suddenly start requiring all unvaccinated Americans to get tested before doing things like flying, we “probably don’t even have the capacity to do the testing quickly.” That will add travel delays on top of those that will be created by vaccine mandates on air traffic controllers, TSA employees, and airline staff. Which creates more travel headaches: a chronically understaffed airport, or one in which a small percentage of staff aren’t fully vaccinated? “You think you’ve seen bad holiday travel conditions? You just wait,” warned Graves.

“Forever Covidism” is now a far more dangerous pandemic than COVID. Its symptoms include unchecked government tyranny, punishing people for personal medical decisions, needless fearmongering, hampering early childhood development and education, exacerbating depression and addictions, destroying livelihoods, and separating families. That’s far worse, for most Americans, than contracting COVID. There is cure available for Forever Covidism — it’s called freedom — but we must use it!

Originally published here.

Standing Firm When the World Says, ‘Give up’

“In this world, it is becoming more and more unpopular to be a Christian. Soon it may become dangerous.”

Those were the words of Melvin Laird, a former congressman and defense secretary for President Richard Nixon. He made that comment more than 50 years ago — and if he thought it was difficult to practice his faith back then, he wouldn’t believe the hostility of the culture today. The church is being pressed in from all sides, urged to abandon our faith or abandon the public square. We can do neither.

“Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent…” That was the message the Lord had for Paul when he was facing the cancel culture of Corinth in Acts 18. It was the same message I had for the crowd gathered for the Pastors Conference at the Louisiana Baptist Convention Thursday night in Monroe, Louisiana.

Right now, our spiritual enemy is desperate to separate Christians from the source of our strength — to force us to take our faith in Christ underground. But the minute we surrender to that temptation, the minute we downplay the word of God so as “not to offend,” we lose the very distinctive that makes unbelievers notice. As I challenged the pastors: Why would people that are empty and dissatisfied with what the world has to offer, turn to the church when the church looks and acts the same as the world? If the principles of God’s Word were found good enough to build a nation upon by our founders, they should be sufficient to lead our nation by today.

That doesn’t mean standing by those principles is easy. As the growing hostility toward religious freedom shows, we need to be prepared for conflict. Paul was. In his letter to the Ephesians, he made it very clear that we are to stand our ground, taking up the “whole armor of God.” Even this great man of God recognized that he needed help doing that in the face of opposition. “Pray for me that I will open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I would speak boldly as I ought to speak.”

Silence is not an option — it wasn’t then, and it can’t be now. We must speak the truth when people want to hear it — and even when they don’t. But let’s not miss the second part of what the Lord has to say, “for I am with you (my presence is with you)… I have many people in this city.” That’s true today. God still has many people in this nation — but there must be a catalyst for them to converge for a common purpose. That’s where Paul came in — that’s where you come in. Courage breeds courage.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an outspoken pastor, theologian, underground seminary professor, and spy against the Third Reich said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

Be strong in the Lord.

Be prepared for the conflict.

Be bold and speak and do not keep silent.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.