Brownstone Institute Articles ⋆ Page 272 of 311 ⋆ Brownstone Institute

How Public Opinion Ended Covid, and Started the Next Thing

Jeffrey A. Tucker / March 14, 2022 / Philosophy, Public Health, Society / 7 minute read / Articles

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These results point to one conclusion: between one-half and two-thirds of the public believe that the pandemic response was an enormous flop, and that their own liberties are far less secure now than they were before. Further, none of it worked to achieve that goal. That is a devastating indictment on the biggest expansion of government power and control in our lifetimes, one that happened not only in the US but almost everywhere in the world.

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War Was Always the Wrong Metaphor

Steve Templeton / March 14, 2022 / Policy, Public Health, Society / 11 minute read / Articles

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With two full years of hindsight, it’s clear that lockdowns were a disaster and that mandated measures caused more harm than benefit, yet this has not prevented leaders from declaring victory, crediting their own brave and resolute leadership for saving millions of lives and routing the viral enemy. However, SARS-CoV-2 isn’t a real enemy—it doesn’t have an intention other than to exist and spread, and it won’t agree to an armistice. Instead, we will have to live with the virus forever in an endemic state, and skip the victory parades.

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Vaccine Fanaticism Fuels Vaccine Skepticism

Jayanta Bhattacharya,

Martin Kulldorff / March 13, 2022 / Vaccines / 5 minute read / Articles

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The federal government went further, using its vast regulatory powers to mandate vaccines as a condition of employment. These coercive actions effectively cast the unvaccinated into second-class citizenship. As they watched the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike contract COVID-19, they undoubtedly began to wonder whether public health truly had their best interests at heart.

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Travel Blocked from Europe: The Second Anniversary

Jeffrey A. Tucker / March 12, 2022 / History, Policy / 5 minute read / Articles

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This was a turning point not only in the Trump administration. Pollsters agree that the Covid response not only cost him the Presidency but his party also lost the Senate and secured minority status in the House. It was a turning point for American liberty and the general stability of the world economy. It set in motion all that we currently endure, including emergency powers, egregious mandates, inflation, stagnation, demographic upheaval, ill-health, cultural disorientation, and arguably war too.

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The Failure of Track-and-Trace: Interview with Jay Bhattacharya

Brownstone Institute / March 12, 2022 / Public Health / 1 minute of reading / Articles

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What was the underlying goal of these efforts? Did the experts genuinely believe that the virus could be suppressed or even eradicated through these methods? When does track-and-trace make sense and when is it futile, and how can we know?

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The CDC: Source of Misinformation

Michael Betrus / March 12, 2022 / Masks, Policy / 14 minute read / Articles

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It’s very puzzling why the CDC, most in the media and in the medical community hung on to many COVID-19 restrictions when the data was so apparent they didn’t suppress COVID-19. The lasting impact of this will be distrust in public health and those in the media.

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How Seventy Years of Progress Came to an End

Jeffrey A. Tucker / March 11, 2022 / History / 8 minute read / Articles

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We truly did not know how good we had it. The world we are entering now is unlike anything we’ve previously experienced. Maybe two years ago, there was a chance to dig our way out of this pit of hell, but that seems ever less likely with each passing day.

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What the Truckers Want: An Explanation for the Confused

Sarabeth Matilsky / March 11, 2022 / Policy / 6 minute read / Articles

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These truckers and others drove from California to Hagerstown, MD, over a week and a half – and all across the country, from overpasses, at evening rallies, and all along the highways, Americans turned out to cheer them on. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans turned out to show their support for the truckers, and hundreds of thousands if not millions more cheered them on from their homes, unable to be there in person.

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Twitter Demanded that I Tell a Lie

Robin Koerner / March 11, 2022 / Media / 7 minute read / Articles

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In my lifetime, society has been sufficiently remade to make me one of the marginals. Millions of people celebrate that. If they did not, we could not be here. I think I am going to start using that expression – one of the marginals – and using it, if you’ll excuse me, with just a little dash of moral pride.

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What Happens When Cases Rise?

Vinay Prasad / March 11, 2022 / Policy, Public Health, Society / 4 minute read / Articles

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Covid-19 cases will eventually rise. I don’t know when, but we are extremely vulnerable to an ill-formed and schizophrenic response. As we near midterm elections, politicians will be more volatile, and seek to control news that is seen as a threat to political fortunes. That’s the territory for bad decision making.

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It’s Time to Talk about Elephants

Gabrielle Bauer / March 11, 2022 / Philosophy, Policy, Public Health / 7 minute read / Articles

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As we step into year three, we urgently need to widen the lens beyond Covid metrics, beyond epidemiology, beyond even science itself. With Covid easing into endemicity, we need to grapple with big-picture concepts like costs, benefits and tradeoffs. We need to ask the tough questions. We need to name the hulking elephants in the room, to lift up their trunks and see what lies beneath.

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Freedom Is Our Birthright, Not Dependent On Medical Status

David Bell / March 10, 2022 / Policy, Society, Vaccines / 8 minute read / Articles

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On occasion the majority may need to swallow a risk for a time. Sometimes respecting the freedom of others will seem to cost us, but codifying human rights, and insisting on process, legalism, and law gives wisdom time to overcome fear. It is the insurance that keeps the members of a free society free.

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