John Madden, candidate for Port Angeles City Council, is wrong to cite the 10th Amendment to defend his opposition to the vaccine requirement for bars and restaurants.
The 10th Amendment reserves any powers not cited in the Constitution for the states and the people.
Requiring vaccination to get into a bar or restaurant is, indeed, not a power specifically assigned to the federal government.
However, the elected legislature of Washington state does reserve that power, and used it to pass RCW 70.05.070, which authorizes local health officers to “control and prevent the spread of any dangerous, contagious and infectious diseases that may occur within his or her jurisdiction.”
In other words, our elected legislature gave that power to our health officer.
John Madden has every right to not like the requirement, but it is very clearly not government overreach or authoritarianism.
It is, instead, an example of how our representative and constitutional democracy is supposed to function when confronting threats to society.
John Madden does not have my vote.
Ian Miller
Port Angeles