One might well think that lockdowns have disappeared into the mists of the pandemic. But alas, many high-level policymakers have yet to break their infatuation with lockdown ideology, in spite of its conspicuous failure to promote human health and well-being over the past two and a half years.
As reported by the Irish Independent (June 6th 2022), an “emergency planning exercise” was held in late May 2022 “between all the major state agencies and the (Irish) government,” to explore possible responses to diverse scenarios in the fuel crisis sparked by the war in the Ukraine. Here are some of the measures this smart team of strategists came up with, as reported by The Irish Independent:
an order for all non-essential workers to work from home
imposition of a limit on all non-essential car travel
a strict limit on the amount of fuel motorists can buy at any one time
the implementation of an immediate and strict reduction in the speed limit on motorways.
the introduction of an emergency scheme whereby motorists with an odd number at the end of their car registration will only be allowed to drive or refuel on alternate days.
Sound familiar? It should. This is basically a dreary re-run of the lockdown playbook we saw at work in 2020-21. The fact that State agencies came up with highly coercive and illiberal measures to respond to a fuel crisis, rather than appealing to citizens’ solidarity and common sense to restrict their fuel-based activities, suggests that the ideology of lockdown has buried its tentacles into high-level government circles.
The use of prolonged society-wide lockdowns, business closures, and vaccine mandates to combat a virus with a 99.7-99.8% survival rate, with no comprehensive impact assessment at any stage, was one of the most reckless and disproportionate governmental acts of modern times. But of particular concern is the fact that the recklessness of this act has, for the most part, yet to be acknowledged by its authors or by official inquiries.
The paucity of evidence for the efficacy of lockdowns at enhancing public health or reducing overall mortality (here is one study by Jonas Herby, Lars Jonung, and Steve H. Hanke that reaches this conclusion - there are many others) has not been absorbed or acknowledged by political leaders. The flagrant violation of human and civil rights has not been widely prosecuted in the courts, nor has it been flagged by political tribunals (though there are doubtless some exceptions).
Theoretically, governments might quietly learn from their mistakes, and disqualify lockdowns, curfews, and similar heavy-handed interventions as inappropriate tools for managing public crises, without openly admitting that they screwed up badly. But in practice, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
These sorts of interventions can be politically appealing, because they are loud enough to convey a sense that government is “doing something,” and are an ideal vehicle for expanding a government’s power over citizens’ lives, in the name of tackling a public emergency.
Lockdown ideology is premised on a profound distrust of citizens’ ability to respond freely to a public crisis or to make voluntary sacrifices for the common good. It is also premised on the idea that a crude, one-size-fits-all sledge-hammer approach can resolve a public crisis without unleashing a Pandora’s Box of unintended harms.
Consider the consequences for ordinary citizens if the government went ahead and imposed coercive, cookie-cutter fuel-saving measures such as work-from-home orders: the police State introduced during the pandemic would be restored, and people who need to travel for family, health or work reasons, might find themselves severely handicapped by the new rules, just as they were under Covid lockdowns.
Instead of allowing citizens to work from home if and when they can, the government could, under the scenario envisaged by Ireland’s emergency planners, impose a work-from-home rule that would destroy businesses that depend on in-person staff, such as the hospitality industry. A crude intervention of this scale would inflict a range of unintended consequences, such as loneliness, adverse health outcomes, and job losses, that are difficult to predict.
The planning exercise revealed by the Irish Independent corroborates what many of us have been warning since early in the pandemic (see, for example, my piece, “Is the Pandemic Turning the West into China?” (29/9/2021)), namely that the hyper-intrusive and constitutionally dubious restrictions introduced as tools of infection control, from home quarantines and business closures to vaccine mandates and health passes, were not merely a temporary “blip,” but worrying symptoms of a fundamental authoritarian shift in the public philosophy of Western democracies.
Above all, the willingness of political leaders to suspend civil liberties across the board in the name of public utility heralds a new conception of democracy, in which personal freedom may be sacrificed willy-nilly on the altar of “the greater good,” as interpreted by unelected public policy gurus and scientific elites who rationalise highly destructive and inhumane policies under the guise of “science.”
The fact that the Irish government is even contemplating introducing these sorts of measures shows they think they can get away with it. Another round of authoritarian restrictions might be on the cards for us, unless citizens wake up and stand up for their rights at the first hint of another lockdown.
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Government would be a great job if it weren’t for the dumb proles. Governments hate the subjects they rule over — they’re dirty and icky. They love hurting them, for their own good of course.
It’s the psychology of those who seek power.
This can only be fixed when people enter government motivated by service to others rather than service of self. It’s why spiraling government pay scales are inherently wrong.
We're like sheep being herded into a pen...