The Covid debate about the lockdown is often posed as a choice between the economy (wealth, money) and lives. There are many with whom I agree with that turn this debate into lives versus lives, as the health cost of the lockdown is already enormous for many reasons. For example, in the short term the mental health of people in isolation will deteriorate potentially leading to suicide. All other healthcare is being ignored. An old student of mine who runs an emergency unit in a hospital told me the patient load is about 5% of normal. Were all of those strokes and heart attacks fake?

In the medium term, a country racked by an economic depression will not have the same healthcare system as a prosperous one. As Robert Wenzel reports, the rising food costs will really hurt social security recipients.  Stopping production across the country while creating trillions in new dollars is a recipe for economic disaster that has never been witnessed in the United States.

handling MR. HYDE: que... Katz, Ira Best Price: $17.20 Buy New $12.98 (as of 04:58 UTC - Details) But let’s consider in the long term a different aspect to this Covid response that has nothing to do with data or modelling. That is the unprecedented restrictions on the population. The rule of law, freedom of assembly, freedom of worship, the freedom to work and use property (closing of businesses) have devastated the last vestiges of our constitutional order. If we understand the ratchet effect as developed by Robert Higgs, the freedom lost in this debacle will never be fully recovered short of a revolution. From September 11th we still have the Patriot Act, the TSA, and forever wars. Now the choice between lives and freedom is often put forward by our fearless leaders in Washington who fight behind computer screens. They gladly sacrifice thousands of soldiers and millions in civilian collateral damage as a necessary cost for our freedom. What is coming in forced vaccination and tracking of the population is truly frightening. And yet now, most people meekly accept this legal and moral travesty to protect lives.

The face of the Covid response, if not the true power behind it, is of course Tony Fauci. His decades burrowed into the federal bureaucracy has given him a scientific power base using influence, money and bullying to control the public health response to infectious disease. The putrid undergrowth of his career as described by Judy Mikovits and others makes him the J. Edgar Hoover of public health. His insistence on vaccine, vaccine, vaccine as the only viable response to Covid, as Ron Paul and Daniel McAdams described in his Senate testimony, could be a turning point because it is so ridiculous. He says we must wait at least another year to restart normal life. Imagine a whole year of school missed over the whole country. Will Tony isolate seniors for a whole year with no visitors. You might as well shoot them now. People must recognize that this is madness. Crisis and Leviathan: ... Robert Higgs Best Price: $7.96 Buy New $7.42 (as of 05:25 UTC - Details)

From a philosophical point of view, this Covid response places one aspect of health as the highest priority (a false idol) above all else. Afterall, the churches (and all other religious gatherings) are closed. This point was made in a wonderful way in a discussion that I think is the best 5 minutes I have seen on the internet in a long time. There is a little corner of the internet that I came to know through Jordan Peterson that is an in-depth discussion of the Meaning Crisis (see my description here). Now I want to mention again the YouTube channel A Quality Existence created by Sevilla King, who delves into the philosophy and literature of Robert Pirsig (e.g., Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance). She recently posted a discussion with Christopher Mastropietro. He works with John Vervaeke, a professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Toronto, who has created a project called Awakening from the Meaning Crisis. Mastropietro is a young man who speaks spontaneously in beautiful poetic phrases about philosophy. King as well has a soothing mellifluous voice (she is a practicing therapist). Together they discuss among other things the Covid situation. They make the point that life always consists of risk-benefit tradeoffs. A proper balance is essential. Starting about minute 49 Mastropietro illustrates this point with the example of smoking. Can you imagine the beauty of smoking! I have never inhaled myself, though I often thought of taking up the habit as solidarity to the truly oppressed class called smokers.

I recommend watching the whole conversation, but you must see the 5 minutes about smoking starting at about 49:00. It is wonderful.

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