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Brownstone Journal

Brownstone Journal features in-depth articles, news, research, and commentary on public health, science, economics, social theory, and related policy issues — offering critical perspectives on institutional failures, government interventions, and threats to liberty.

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Grading the Governors: Who Locked Down and Who Opened?

Not one governor performed perfectly during the pandemic and lockdowns. With media pressure, a desire to balance their constituents, and a desire to get reelected and move on to federal positions down the road, it was an enormously difficult job for all of them. For every single one, from Governors Newsom and Cuomo to Noem and DeSantis, it was the most challenging policy-making of their careers, and for any governor in perhaps American history

Grading the Governors: Who Locked Down and Who Opened? Continue Reading

It Was All There in the EUA. Why Couldn’t They See it? 

In a world where, to paraphrase Zygmunt Bauman, all is liquid and most are driven by the search for fleeting sensations, and where establishing a personal hermeneutic through reading and contemplation is considered quaintly quixotic when not impossible, the mutterings of the authority figure nearby take on an enhanced attraction. 

It Was All There in the EUA. Why Couldn’t They See it?  Continue Reading

Kulldorff Deleted: Famed Epidemiologist and Early Opponent of Lockdowns Banned by LinkedIn

Things are changing fast. The history is being rewritten. It seems designed to whitewash the lockdowns, pretending as if there was never any credible opposition. Great scientists are being made to disappear before our eyes.

Kulldorff Deleted: Famed Epidemiologist and Early Opponent of Lockdowns Banned by LinkedIn Continue Reading

Justin Trudeau Ducks the Great Trucker Revolt

This is the largest and latest example of the revolt and one that could make the biggest difference yet. But it is only one sign among many that the ruling elites in most countries have overplayed their hand. They have arrogantly imposed their plans for everyone else based on the opinions of only a few and without real consultation with experts with differences of opinion or with the people whose lives have been profoundly affected by the pandemic response. 

Justin Trudeau Ducks the Great Trucker Revolt Continue Reading

First We Must Grieve

We need time and space to mourn the loss of hope we had and plans we made, of businesses closed, of church groups no longer meeting, of relationships with co-workers we won’t get back, of trust in institutions, and of our previous understanding of health. Parents, grandparents, children, teens, and community members all need time to grieve for childhoods halted, rites of passage canceled, and celebrations skipped.

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The Reactionary Political Ethos of Lockdowns and Mandates

We’ve lived through an enormous setback, pushed by reactionary elements among the ruling class, but it is likely a prequel to what comes next: a backlash against reaction and toward a new stage of progress. Cycles within cycles. Forces of centralization have had a field day, and a good run of it, but the forces of decentralization are fighting back again with good odds of regaining the narrative again. 

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Bureaucrats Riding the Omicron Wave

Repeat after me: Keep our community safe. Keep our campus safe. We will be safe if you all behave safely. Safety is our first priority. If you’re not with us, you’re with the virus. Still today, at places like Princeton, grievances can often only be aired in private about the constant dreary pronouncements from official authorities purporting to be so very concerned for your health and safety, yadda yadda yadda.

Bureaucrats Riding the Omicron Wave Continue Reading

Ontario the Cruel

The children of Ontario are victims of nearly two solid years of psychologically and emotionally damaging messages emanating from public health officials and social media celebrity doctors about how dangerous they are to the people they love; that they are dirty disease carriers, that they could be ‘granny killers’ and inadvertently pass along a deadly virus to their loved ones. They could murder their grandparents! In turn, many Ontario parents have been rendered so utterly terrified about the exaggerated risks to their children from Covid-19 that they are now fully convinced that all children are a health risk to others. 

Ontario the Cruel Continue Reading