Anyone notice the Portland restaurants calling for vaccine passports are all upscale establishments downtown? I’d wager they’re not having quite the time making payroll as many of their hundred-plus counterparts all across the city.

This has been one of the hallmarks of the pandemic: people in positions of comfort speaking broadly for everyone. As was pointed out early on, we aren’t all in the same lifeboat. The failure to honestly acknowledge this has been a mighty example of the systemic inequality that this crowd loves to complain about. And yes, I’m talking about the left.

What happened to the Democrats who thought the Patriot Act was a grotesque overreach of constitutional rights? How can they chant “my body, my choice” and then take away a child’s right to an education if they don’t submit to an experimental vaccine?

These same Democrats have stood back and watched (from home) while the largest transfer of wealth in history has migrated from the middle class to the 1 percent. They’ve happily hitched their wagons to Big Pharma and Big Tech and in doing so have become the same defenders of the ultra wealthy who they despised when George W. Bush was in office.

Freedom and privacy aren’t antiquated talking points of the alt-right. They’re fundamentals of human decency and a civilized society. These restaurants are more than welcome to insulate themselves in a homogenous nest of zero-risk-takers if they’re that worried. That’s a right they actually do have.

William Hilton
Portland

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