President Biden, who ran on being a uniter in chief, has done nothing but cause division in the country since the moment he took office. One issue where he has done the most damage is on the Covid-19 vaccines. Rather than relying on persuasion to convince Americans to get the jab, he has pitted Americans against each other and treated the unvaccinated with contempt at every turn.
Perhaps it's time he look across the pond to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's take on mandates and vaccines, which Americans would be much more receptive to if Biden took a similar approach.
The Islington North member of Parliament explained in a recent interview why he strongly opposes both vaccine mandates and passports.
"What I want to see is a process where we are asking people to recognize the severity and dangers of Covid, but you achieve far more in public health by cooperation and persuasion than you do by compulsion, and I'm worried about the direction of travel we're going to with Covid passports and the danger, which I see as quite serious, of compulsory vaccination for NHS staff – testing is an appropriate way of doing things," he argued.
While he personally believes people should get vaccinated, he recognizes that forcing the jab is not a good strategy.
"Once you go down the road of compulsion, what do you do with the people that refuse to take a vaccination? Do you then dismiss them from working in the NHS? …. And you then go down a road of what? Criminalizing people? This is a very dodgy road to go down," he continued. "I think the responsible thing to do is to persuade people."
Tonight I will oppose both compulsory vaccines for NHS staff, and the introduction of vaccine passports. Both measures are counterproductive and will create division when we need cooperation and unity.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) December 14, 2021
One huge difference between Corbyn and so-called US "leftists" is he never harbors contempt or condescension for those who see the world differently.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 15, 2021
Another is he's anti-authoritarian.
Another is he thinks being pro-worker means it's grotesque to fire people for disobedience.
Wow. Even Corbyn recognizes that vaccine mandates are wrong. https://t.co/SR1Xs730B7
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 15, 2021