Freedom fighters, arise! There is a communist conspiracy afoot here in our own beloved state of Arizona.

A pink-o plot aimed at forcing little children to surrender their freedom, to knuckle under to the outrageous demands of the state collective.

Fortunately, Rep. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, stands on the front lines of noble dissent – or at least on the front lines of Facebook – vowing never to give in to those commies who are pushing childhood immunizations.

Or put another way, responsible people who are trying to ensure that wholly preventable diseases don’t make a comeback because of ignorant parents who refuse to believe in science.

Who's forcing anyone to vaccinate?

“Dearest friends and people of Arizona, it seems we are prepared to give up our liberty, the very sovereignty of our body, because of measles,” Townsend wrote in a Thursday Facebook post. “I read yesterday that the idea is being floated that if not enough people get vaccinated, then we are going to force them to. The idea that we force someone to give up their liberty for the sake of the collective is not based on American values but rather, Communist.”

I haven't heard of any plot afoot to force parents to immunize their children against deadly diseases. There is talk of denying unvaccinated kids entrance to school, but it's just that – talk.

Actually, I think it's a pretty good idea and it wouldn't force an anti-vaxxer to salute the hammer and sickle.

In Arizona we have school choice, which would allow the Townsends of the world to either home school their unvaccinated kids, send them to a private school dumb enough to accept classrooms full of unvaccinated kids or start their own charter school for unvaccinated kids.

Ducey said he'd veto these bills

Townsend’s treatise comes just a day after Gov. Doug Ducey announced he will veto any crazy bills that would expand the number of school children who don’t have to be immunized.

At a time when health officials are increasingly worried about measles outbreaks due to declining vaccination rates among children, the House health committee last week passed a trio of bills aimed at expanding the number of children who don't have to get their childhood shots.

Virtually every major medical group begged our leaders not to bring back utterly preventable diseases, saying, “We implore you not to lead Arizona to the bottom and contribute to the spread of untold disease and human suffering.”

So, naturally, the bills passed on a partyline vote.

They are the brainchild of Rep. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, and her crew of anti-vaxxers who believe that immunizations are tied to autism. Never mind that there isn’t a shred of scientific evidence suggesting that it’s true.

Live free or die? Must it come to that?

Unfortunately, we have, at present, no shots that would vaccinate us against crazy.

As Townsend might say, science, schmience. Who needs it?

“I am going to demand, as a mother of an injured child from her vaccines, that we insist that we spend the time and money on discovering what in these vaccines is causing so much injury, instead of insisting on taking your liberty in the name of the collective,” she wrote.

“Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.’ ”

Nor, I might add, do those children who for legitimate medical reasons can’t get vaccinated, deserve to get measles – or worse – because they have to sit next to someone else’s unvaccinated child in school.”

Townsend signs her treatise “live free or die.”

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com.

MORE FROM ROBERTS: