Policy

Policy articles analyzing social and public policy including impacts on economics, open dialog, and social life. Articles on the topic of policy at Brownstone Institute are translated into multiple languages.

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fifty questions

Fifty Questions to Which We Demand Answers

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Though many in positions of power would prefer that we forgot, the strict lockdowns that consumed the world in 2020 are extremely well documented. Above all, these lockdowns were a chilling demonstration of just how quickly western officials, policymakers, scientists, journalists, and soon entire populations could be convinced to adopt a degree of totalitarianism in their everyday lives. Until we have real answers as to how exactly they happened, and why, there’s no reason for any thinking citizen to have confidence in the current crop of officials who claim to represent them.

Fifty Questions to Which We Demand Answers Read Journal Article

political economy pandemic response

The Political Economy of the US Pandemic Response

By / / , , / 92 minute read / Research
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In this essay, written from a broad economics perspective that incorporates an understanding of incentives, institutions, information, and power, we address the following three broad questions: (1) What were the roles and responsibilities of our institutions when faced with a threat like Covid? (2) What were the costs and benefits of the response that transpired? (3) What is the need and potential for institutional and social reform?

The Political Economy of the US Pandemic Response Read Journal Article

plan a or plan b

Plan A or Plan B?

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My Plan A, in the event of unsavoury political developments unfolding, such as it was, involved writing letters of protest to politicians and others. It wasn’t really a plan, more of a reaction, and an orthodox one at that. In any event, it was a pathetic failure. It didn’t even give me the illusory comfort of a response, let alone a tangible improvement.

Plan A or Plan B? Read Journal Article

disinformation and censorship

Disinformation, Censorship, and Information Warfare in the 21st Century

By / / , , , / 12 minute read / Articles
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It’s morally, legally, and intellectually repugnant that federal officials in the United States have constructed a vast apparatus for censoring legal speech, bypassing the First Amendment—without informing the public—on the pretext that the activities of foreign regimes which have been deliberately permitted on our online platforms have gotten so out of control.

Disinformation, Censorship, and Information Warfare in the 21st Century Read Journal Article

military vaccine

All Hail the Military Refusers

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They are men and women who possess spines of steel, the ones our fellow citizens can most count on to face an enemy of the nation and not blink. Rather than merely reciting the values of their respective branches of the military, they demonstrated what it looks like to actually live by those values. Many more times their number can only wish to demonstrate that level of courage. 

All Hail the Military Refusers Read Journal Article

pandemic minority report

A Minority Report on Pandemic Origins

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Based on this timeline and history, as well as my own direct personal communication with Dr. Callahan, I strongly suspect that both the gross clinical mismanagement of ventilatory support during the first phase of the outbreak (responsible for up to 30,000 deaths) as well as the stunningly poor management practices of Nursing Home and Extended Care facilities throughout the USA can be directly traced to the influence of Dr. Michael Callahan, DARPAs Man in Wuhan and arguably the top US Government/CIA expert in both biowarfare and gain of function research.

A Minority Report on Pandemic Origins Read Journal Article

Drosten Wuhan

Christian Drosten and the “Bat Woman” of Wuhan

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When asked about the possibility of a lab leak in a November 2021 interview with the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Drosten insisted that “I have no personal connection to the people in Wuhan and have never been at the [Wuhan] Institute [of Virology].” The above photo makes clear that he and Shi are not perfect strangers at any rate.

Christian Drosten and the “Bat Woman” of Wuhan Read Journal Article

lockdown deaths

Lockdowns Deaths in 2020 Were 42% of Excess Deaths

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Lockdown deaths in 2020 at 194,000 are 42% of total excess deaths. This is a huge amount. With a data lag of a few weeks, the CDC was publishing Covid and non-Covid excess deaths throughout 2020, so policymakers should have been aware of the collateral damage their policies were causing at the time. Governments were given credible warnings about the dangers of lockdowns, but did not listen.

Lockdowns Deaths in 2020 Were 42% of Excess Deaths Read Journal Article

lab leak theory wuhan

The Other Lab in Wuhan: The German-Chinese “Laboratory for Virus Research”

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Astonishingly, in early September 2019, only three months before the allegedly initial outbreak of Covid-19 just a stone’s throw from Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, then German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid a visit to none other than…Tongji Hospital in Wuhan! The hospital is also known as the German-Chinese Friendship Hospital.

The Other Lab in Wuhan: The German-Chinese “Laboratory for Virus Research” Read Journal Article