In China, the Communist Party has implemented and is continually expanding a social credit system that seeks to use economic opportunities and restrictions to reward behavior the party likes and punish those who do things it doesn’t.  The system affects where people can live, how easily they can access credit, the speed of their Internet service, and more.

Active legislation in Rhode Island and Connecticut shows sympathy for this totalitarian impulse is strong among New England Democrats.  In Rhode Island, S2552 would mandate COVID-19 vaccination with stiff penalties:

Violating the proposed vaccine mandate would come with a price. Violators would face “a civil penalty of $50 and shall owe twice the amount of personal income taxes.”

Employers would be responsible for enforcement, requiring workers to provide proof or face a $5,000 fine for each unvaccinated worker.

Note that the $50 penalty would be charged monthly.  The top 6 bill sponsors, all Democrats, are Senators Sam Bell (Providence), Tiara Mack (Providence), Jonathan Acosta (Central Falls and Pawtucket), Kendra Anderson (Warwick and Cranston), James Seveney (Bristol, Portsmouth, and Tiverton), and Cynthia Mendes (East Providence and Pawtucket).

Meanwhile, Democrat state representative John Larson in Connecticut has introduced legislation to fine people $20 for failing to vote.  One struggles to understand why anybody would think it a good idea to force people to cast a vote against their will on candidates and policies with which they are unfamiliar, but there it is.

And we can expect this impulse to continue to grow.  Modern Democrats increasingly believe it is government’s job to conduct the lives of the people, reducing us from citizens to children who must be told what to do and punished when we don’t do it.