Libertarians in a Pandemic
In a moment of crisis, people like to assert a sense of control, no matter how illusory, by reverting to well-worn habits. In the case of COVID-19, that means using it as a vessel for whatever political hobbyhorses they had before the pandemic. So it's no surprise to see the headline, "There Are No Libertarians in an Epidemic." By "libertarians," the author means advocates of small government and individual liberty.
This talking point has since been taken up by others in a more technically accurate form: there are no libertarians in a pandemic. The idea is that when a crisis hits, everyone suddenly realizes how much they really need Big Government.
This is a bizarre argument to make about a virus that got a foothold partly because of the corrupt and tyrannical policies of a communist government in China. The outbreak is currently at its worst in Italy, a country with socialized medicine. And it was allowed to get out of control in America because the feds imposed an incompetent government monopoly on COVID-19 testing, blocking the use of better and faster tests developed by private companies.
Not only was Big Government a significant cause of this crisis, the solutions are largely being implemented through voluntary action.
Read the rest at The Bulwark.