World News: Why getting a vaccine makes you a patriot

Thursday, July 1

Why getting a COVID-19 vaccination is a patriotic act

Good morning. Today we have a look at the vaccine and the filibuster debates.

Did you notice that we have an extra editorial cartoon today? We're thinking about doing that going forward since it's obvious so many of you enjoy those.

So, enjoy and consider that taking the vaccine could make you a patriot.

Do it for your family and for America

Reps. Bill Foster, D-Ill., and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, are members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. They're writing today on the importance of getting the COVID vaccine.

Vaccinations have been key to facilitating swift and safe progress toward a full return to our normal lives. As vaccination rates have increased, states, cities and towns have reopened and families and communities are finally able to safely come together across our nation.

This progress is a testament to the vaccines' efficacy and the hard work of scientists who developed them under extraordinary circumstances.

However, we cannot lose sight of the work that remains to be done. Even though thousands of Americans are still getting sick from the coronavirus each day, 1 in 5 Americans say they will not get a coronavirus vaccine.

Today's editorial cartoon

Nathaniel Archer, USA TODAY Network

USA TODAY Network

•	Updated: July editorial cartoon gallery

The Founders would have hated filibusters

Andrew Trees is the author of "The Founding Fathers and the Politics of Character." He knows a little something about the founders. Today he's looking at if they would have supported the filibuster.

So, why do so many senators cling so tenaciously to the filibuster? I believe they are trapped by a misguided reverence for their own traditions. Thomas Jefferson warned about this when he saw how many of his countrymen were beginning to look on the Constitution "with sanctimonious reverence," viewing it "like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched." In contrast, Jefferson envisioned a changing Constitution in response to "the progress of the human mind. As that becomes… more enlightened,… institutions must advance."

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