One California town is utilizing the U.S. Constitution and rejecting Governor Gavin Newsom’s mandate that requires schoolchildren to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Oroville, California has officially declared itself a “constitutional republic.” As a constitutional republic, leaders “pledge to fight mandates they say go too far” reports the San Francisco Gate.
Oroville’s Vice Mayor Scott Thomson is the father of two young boys and says the mandate for children was the straw that broke the camel’s back. “He believed the government had no right to tell him what to put into his, or his children’s bodies. Many of his constituents agreed when it came to pandemic mandates” writes the SF Gate.
Thomson felt he and his constituents were left with no choice, and so he declared Oroville a constitutional republic. The declaration passed by the City Council reads:
“Any executive orders issued by the State of California or by the United States federal government that are overreaching or clearly violate our constitutionally protected rights will not be enforced by the City of Oroville against its citizens”
Thomson has said that “the desire here is dialogue” rather than sweeping mandates. Oroville is a city of only 20,000 but is rapidly growing, as in recent years it has determined itself to be a sanctuary of place “otherwise exempt from some liberal ideal.”
Oroville is not the first California town to be rebelling. Two years ago, the town of Needles became a “sanctuary city” for the Second Amendment. The move was in defiance of California’s strict gun control laws.
Other towns such as Atwater and Coalinga declared themselves as a “sanctuary city for business” and a town where all businesses are essential, as a consequence of the state’s strict pandemic shutdown orders.