Won’t Get Fooled Again

After the pandemic, Americans should never let public-health authorities deprive them of their liberties. John Tierney from City Journal Spring 2022

from the magazine

Won’t Get Fooled Again

After the pandemic, Americans should never let public-health authorities deprive them of their liberties. John Tierney Spring 2022 Covid-19Politics and lawHealth Care

More than a century ago, Mark Twain identified two fundamental problems that would prove relevant to the Covid pandemic. “How easy it is to make people believe a lie,” he wrote, “and how hard it is to undo that work again!” No convincing evidence existed at the start of the pandemic that lockdowns, school closures, and mask mandates would protect people against the virus, but it was remarkably easy to make the public believe that these policies were “the science.” Today, thanks to two years of actual scientific evidence, it’s clearer than ever that these were terrible mistakes; yet most people still believe that the measures were worthwhile—and many are eager to maintain some mandates even longer.

Undoing this deception is essential to avoid further hardship and future fiascos, but it…