Covid-19 has seen democratic governments exercising coercive powers over their citizens on a scale never imagined. Their justification: Your freedom is someone else’s risk of catching a potentially fatal disease. Having deployed the instruments of social control, politicians and government bureaucrats won’t quietly put them away when the crisis passes – not when other opportunities exist to wield their newfound powers.
Consider, for example, a similar justification for state coercion on environmental protection: Your carbon footprint is my climate change.
Read Full Article »