Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that all city employees would have to be vaccinated by October 15. Like a lot of people, the head of the Chicago police union objected to the order. But I was struck by the lack of self-awareness in his reaction:

“We’re in America, G‑ddamn it. We don’t want to be forced to do anything. Period. This ain’t Nazi f—ing Germany.”

Americans may not want to be forced to do anything. But we certainly are forced to do various things. And if we try to avoid doing what the government orders us to do, who enforces those laws and mandates? The police, of course. Chicago police have made hundreds of thousands of arrests for drug charges over the past 20 years, and tens of thousands for prostitution. Try not paying your taxes, and it may not be the Chicago police who come after you, but someone will. Not to mention, of course, all the laws that require you to keep your hands to yourself. 

The president of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police seems surprisingly unaware of what his job is.

Note: libertarians can disagree about general vaccine mandates in a pandemic. But the legal authority to require government employees in close contact with the public to be vaccinated doesn’t seem to be in much question. 

I do encourage the union chief and other police officers to ponder the point that Americans don’t like to be forced, and to lend their voices to efforts to reduce the use of force against private citizens.