Crisis concentrates power. It’s a truth recognized by Thucydides in ancient Greece and more recently weaponized by Rahm Emanuel in his exhortation to “never let a serious crisis go to waste.” The problem is perennial. When people are scared, they look for comfort and guidance from a leader or source of power they hope can protect them. In modern times, too many of us demand that our federal government eradicate all kinds of threats. Merely resolving a crisis is not enough; the government must see to it that it can never happen again. And so we have wars “to end all wars” — wars on poverty, on drugs, and on sickness itself. The result is yet more concentrated power, more administrative structures designed to protect us from danger, but also from fear and the need to act on our own.
Unfortunately, large bureaucratic organizations often get in the way of rapid response to crises like the coronavirus. Consider the Centers for Disease Control, whose purview was expanded to include gun violence and obesity but was apparently unable to make and deploy decent coronavirus test kits as quickly as the Germans or the South Koreans; or the Food and Drug Administration, whose regulations further delayed coronavirus testing. Consider also the terrible situation in Italy, where an overstressed, underfunded socialized health care system is reportedly refusing access to life-saving respirators for anyone over 60. Centralized control means corruption, incompetence, and rationing — or worse.
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