North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy (R) slammed the emerging concept of COVID-19 “vaccine passports” as a civil liberties issue, and accused Democrats of wanting a police state.
Appearing on Tuesday’s episode of “The Sara Carter Show” podcast, the congressman joined the growing chorus of conservatives in opposing such measures—whether or not these are government- or business-enforced.
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“As far as these passports go, it is something of civil liberties,” said Murphy, who is also a urologist. “You know, when I see patients, the first thing I asked him, ‘If you had the vaccine, you’re going to get the vaccine.’ And that’s what it needs to be. […] I don’t ask people if they’ve had the flu vaccine, or if you’ve had this other vaccine, I don’t ask them what their cholesterol is. If they’re just in a public setting, I don’t think that’s good.”
“We’re turning into a police state, if that is the case, which is honestly what the Democrats want. They want a police state,” he continued. “But I don’t think that’s going to hold water in the free states in the United States.”
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Host Sara Carter agreed with Murphy’s thoughts on the matter, and soon the conversation turned toward voter ID laws.
“Well, it’s funny, Sara—think about this: the Democrats don’t want voter ID, right? They don’t want you to be able to show who you are, when you come up to vote. You have to have it for all the other things. You have to get it to get food stamps, you have to get it to apply for credit. You have to use ID for everything,” Murphy argued.
“But now they do want an ID to show that you’ve had a vaccination. So […] where’s the logic in that?” he said. “So let’s just turn that back on themselves and say, ‘Look, this is there’s a reason for voter ID.’ But I don’t believe that we should ever get into the avenues of passports and everything else.”
You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @DouglasPBraff.