There is increasing vitriol in Jason Kenney’s tone. Happy smiles and easy emotions do not escort his public addresses, but harshness and unabridged anger. For whatever reason, he is furious with those who refuse to get vaccinated in Alberta. His frustration with those who have moral reservations about being inoculated is so palpable; it’s almost as if he’s losing his grip on reality.
Kenney is so set on vaccinating the whole of Alberta that not only has he employed a lottery to entice us, now, he’s offering us $100 to get a shot as well. He is like a parent, begging their child to obey a command using bribes.
1. Price
Now we know that price signals value. If I earn $20/hr and see a shirt for sale that’s $20 and buy it, it means I believe that shirt is worth one hour of my life.
So how much does Jason Kenney think our morals are worth? About $100. What does Kenney think we’ll trade in exchange for betraying our morals? About four ($25), maybe five ($20), working hours of our life. His proposal to pay us a meager sum of money in exchange for burying our doubts channels his belief that morality can be easily purchased and exchanged on a whim.
2. Subjectivism
But of course, morality cannot be bought. If it could be, then it wouldn’t be morality at all. Morality is objective, derivative from a standard that transcends temporal things like money. Because of this, murder is wrong even if a man is angry. Stealing is wrong even if a man is poor. And lying is wrong even if a man thinks it’s right. These morals cannot be changed by cash; otherwise, they would become subjective, and nothing could ever truly be “wrong,” only “unpopular.” Even the term “corruption” would be a dead word because it implies a standard of good and justice, both of which are excused in a morally subjective world.
Granted, the topic of vaccination is not present in our objective moral standard, the Bible. That is why I have no contention with a man who receives a vaccine, and none with a man who does not. However, we also know that it's explicitly stated that it's wrong to try and entice a man to do something he has moral reservations about (Romans 14:13-23). That's what's wrong; that is the issue.
But Kenney lives in the political arena, where members of the bureaucracy have forgotten that our Constitution recognizes “The Supremacy of God.” He lives in a world where “morality” is as fluid and shapeless as water, where backdoor deals and undercover bribes are as natural as breathing. Corruption in the political jungle is the norm, not the exception.
3. Moral Law
The problem for him is that the vast majority of people are not politicians. Many of us believe in a moral law that is unsullied by the manipulative hands of power-hungry leaders. That is, we know that buying morality is wrong. If we accepted the $100 to get vaccinated, our conscience would condemn us.
That is the insult. That is the detachment from reality. To think that Jason Kenney believes we are so morally flimsy that $100 will mould us to do what he wants is sad. In reality, Albertans are known for their stubbornness and adherence to doing what they believe is right. $100 won’t change that—it only strengthens our resolve.
But we must be warned. I said that Kenney is treating us like children, and he, the parent bribing us to do what he wants. But what comes next for the child if he doesn’t accept the bribe and the parent is adamant his order be obeyed?
Coercion. Punishment.
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