A Republic, If You Can Keep It
The Left loves to call any person or policy they disagree with a “threat to democracy.” Put aside for a moment the fact the United States is not a democracy but a constitutional and federal republic. The biggest threat to our form of government — and one being pushed by the Biden Administration and largely ignored by Congress — are the upcoming votes on two World Health Organization (WHO) instruments that violate our representative system.
According to the Arizona State University, Center for American Civics, “A constitutional republic means one in which, rather than directly governing, the people select some of their members to temporarily serve in political office; the constitutional part means that both the citizens and their governing officials are bound to follow the rules established in that Constitution. A federal republic is one in which a federal government is given only limited powers for limited purposes, while state governments retain most powers of government.” Each element of our constitutional system is at risk if the Administration and Congress fail to stop the WHO’s global governance scheme.
The instruments under consideration by the WHO are the amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) and the concurrent Pandemic Treaty, both of which will be voted on by the World Health Assembly (made up of the 196 Member States) in less than two months. The purpose of these documents is to give the WHO Director-General the sole ability to not only declare public health emergencies of international concern (PHEIC) but to mandate for every nation the global response such as lockdowns, travel restrictions, mandatory testing and vaccinations, and border closures. In addition, nations will be forced to spend billions of dollars to implement this global governance framework based on the principle of “equity.”
First, this is a “threat to our constitutional republic” because it removes the people’s elected representatives from their decision-making roles. Our elected officials on the local, state, and federal levels will no longer control when and what is considered a PHEIC or what the government response will be. The Director General will have the sole authority to make declarations not only for actual pandemics but for any issue that has the potential to affect global health. Think climate change, gun violence, food security, access to abortion, transgender ‘medical care’, and any other so-called threat to public health. The WHO has already weighed in on the ‘global health risks’ tied to each of these hot-button political issues. There will be no ability for citizens to vote for or against the decision-makers, undermining the very concept of representative democracy.
In addition, these documents are a threat to the constitutional protections we now enjoy. The establishment of a global surveillance state by the WHO threatens the basic privacy rights of all Americans while the requirement in these accords for nations to “combat false, misleading, misinformation or disinformation” could easily violate our First Amendment freedom of speech. Each nation will be required to share intellectual property for use by other countries, decimating our unique American patent rights. Our constitutional protections will be undermined if the WHO gets its way.
Finally, under our federal system, the regulation of healthcare is under the purview of the states, including regulating the licensure of doctors, pharmacies, and hospitals and determining what vaccinations are required for school attendance. We experienced this clearly during the Covid crisis, when state and local leaders had, for the most part, the ability to decide when and how businesses and schools would reopen. Under the Pandemic Treaty and accompanying IHR amendments, this authority will be stripped from the states and given to an international organization in clear violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution.
To add insult to the very real injury about to befall us is the fact that the Administration plans to sign onto the Pandemic treaty and IHR amendments by “executive agreement” rather than submit them to the Senate for its constitutionally mandated advice and consent. And the US Senate appears to be willing to accept this usurpation of their power. Last March, Senator Ron Johnson offered an amendment to require a Senate vote on the Pandemic Treaty, but it failed to gain even one Democrat vote. This dereliction of duty on behalf of the Senate should not be excused.
Is there a “threat to democracy” facing our country today? Yes, indeed. It is the threat to our very constitutional republic by the World Health Organization via its proposed Pandemic Treaties and the refusal of the Administration and Senate to do anything to stop it. This threat is not rhetorical but very real. And we, as Americans, must unite against it.
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Kristen A. Ullman is the president of Eagle Forum. Kris served as Executive Director of Eagle Forum’s D.C. office from 1995-1998. She has served on the Eagle Forum Board of Directors since 2017.
