California Town Becomes 'Constitutional Republic' to Protest Pandemic Mandates

The mayor of Oroville, California has found a revolutionary way to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) vaccine mandate for school children.

Mayor Scott Thomson led the charge, and “Oroville declared itself a constitutional republic,” the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.

“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,” according to the declaration, which the City Council passed this month.

Thomson, who is the father of two young boys, said what he really wants is “dialogue” — the City Council emphasized at the resolution meeting that the move was not “beginning the effort for Oroville to secede from California and from the Union.” The state also still regulates local schools.

“Now that the mandates have gone from not just putting something on the outside of your body or modifying how you run your business, but now shoving something inside your body that nobody knows the long-term effects of, that’s just like, OK, now you’re, in my opinion, crossing the line,” Thomson said.

Biden Orders Vax Mandates: “This is Not About Freedom or Personal Choice” pic.twitter.com/HoDwTqLbyG

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 10, 2021

The mayor, who is also a a pastor, said he is not against masks and vaccines, he just thinks people should have freedom of choice.

“There are people out there who are like, ‘This whole thing is a hoax,’” he said. “We are not like that, just being reckless.”

The report noted that Oroville, which has a population of about 20,000, is one of a “growing number” of California communities “to label itself a sanctuary city” from “some liberal ideal,” and specifically pointed to the desert town of Needles, which became a “sanctuary city” for the Second Amendment “in a rebuke of California’s strict gun control laws.”

“And in defiance of pandemic shutdown orders, the Central Valley towns of Atwater and Coalinga last year declared themselves, respectively, a “sanctuary city for business” and a town where all businesses are essential — with both losing emergency COVID-19 funding in the process,” according to the report. “Designed to benefit from the buzz of California’s “sanctuary” designations used in the context of protecting undocumented immigrants, the labels reflect tensions between rural towns and the Newsom administration — and the left in general.”

Council members have reportedly received calls and emails from around the country, both “positive and negative,” since passing the resolution.

“There’s been a lot of expletives,” Councilman and President of the Oroville Chamber of Commerce Eric Smith told the Times.

Smith added that the majority of Oroville businesses owners are in favor of the resolution, saying the “broad pandemic closures were a hard pill to swallow.”

Councilwoman Krysi Riggs, who cast the only vote against the declaration, said she did so because she would rather city leaders fight against mandates through the judicial system — though she reportedly “understands the frustration with mandates.”

“We’ve been in this situation for 20 months, and I think the general feeling is fatigue,” she said. “When does this come to an end? Yes, there are some lights at the end of the tunnel, but those come with uncertainties and risks as well.”

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