Two former libertarians, Tyler Cowen of the Mercatus Center and Will Wilkinson of the Niskanen Center, argue in recent articles that the harms attributed to lockdowns are really caused by voluntary social distancing.
A Dangerous Libertarian Strategy for Herd Immunity | Bloomberg - Tyler Cowen:
October 15, 2020 - "It would be bad enough if the Great Barrington Declaration ... was simply misguided. But the statement, which now has more than 9,000 signatories, represents a potentially dangerous way of thinking — about not only pandemics but also human nature.... It strikes exactly the wrong tone and stresses exactly the wrong points....
"The declaration also sets up a false dichotomy by comparing its policy proposals to lockdowns. The claim is this: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.' The health problems are very real, but in most of the U.S., the lockdowns are not severe. In my home state of Virginia, there are relatively few commercial activities I cannot partake in, were I so inclined. I even can go see a live bluegrass concert in a nightclub (I won’t, not yet). The problem is that most people don’t want to go out to such concerts, and indeed probably should not. It is this self-enforced isolation, not a government order, which screws us up, sometimes creating mental and other health problems.
"Whatever you think of the stricter policies of last spring, they are now behind us, and the emphasis on 'lockdowns' is not helpful. The more useful question is whether the list of prohibited activities should be expanded or contracted. In some cases, surely, it should be expanded.... Even if you disagree with that judgment, the critics who emphasize lockdowns are setting up a straw man.... The truth is that lockdowns are extremely unpopular, and while they may have to be reimposed in extreme circumstances, they are not the main alternative on the table in the U.S. right now."
The Useful Libertarian Idiocy of The Great Barrington Declaration | Will Wilkinson - Niskanen Centre:
October 27, 2020 - "Tyler Cowen has written a persuasive and quietly devastating analysis of the Declaration’s many non-medical shortcomings at Bloomberg Opinion. If you haven’t read it, please do. Cowen, who has been either libertarian or libertarian-adjacent his entire life, recognizes that these errors reflect AIER’s rigid libertarian outlook.... 'The Great Barrington strategy is a tempting one. Coming out of a libertarian think tank, it tries to procure maximum liberty for commerce and daily life. It is a seductive idea. Yet consistency of message is not an unalloyed good, even when the subject is liberty'.... This is, to my mind, exceedingly gentle. “[C]onsistency of message is not an unalloyed good, even when the subject is liberty,” is a generous way to say that purist ideology is a mind-warping reality-distortion field. I entirely concur with Cowen’s piece, but I think it’s worth drawing out further how the Declaration’s errors showcase some of libertarianism’s signature defects....
"Nobody is going to do this. What’s even the idea here? That a governor or mayor or city council will one day announce that it is now officially a Great Barrington 'focused protection' jurisdiction and everyone will just shout 'Hurrah!' and sprint to the nearest massage parlor or high step it to the hoe down[?]... [V]ery few of us are willing to simply allow the virus to cull the weak. Which is why next to nobody’s going to try the Great Barrington strategy. And if somebody does try it, it obviously can’t work....
"I’m no angel, but it’s nevertheless important to me, as a matter of elementary moral duty, to avoid becoming a link in a chain of viral transmission that could kill somebody. But even if you’re completely bereft of any sense of responsibility for the lives and welfare of others, it remains that there are plenty of selfish reasons to steer clear of the maskless rager over at the Sig Ep house (an unfortunate reality here in Iowa City.).... So mere personal prudence is enough to lead many of us to decline invitations to weddings, retire our gym memberships, and eschew dine-in restaurants. It’s enough to keep managers and business owners from calling their workers back to the office. Now add a functioning moral compass to mix. In that case, a moderate level of entirely voluntary self-isolation and avoidance of un-distanced and/or mask-free social situations becomes practically inevitable.
"Here in Iowa, we’ve never had an official lockdown, and we’ve had very, very few restrictions of any kind. Nobody’s stopping anybody from going to the movies, but nobody goes to the movies. Restaurants are open, but there aren’t many people in them.... It’s hard to tell the practical difference between the Great Barrington approach and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ active hostility to city-level restrictions, mask mandates, and remote schooling. Yet it’s completely obvious, if you live here, that this approach hasn’t put us any nearer to 'normal'....
"The governor’s aggressively laissez faire approach has delivered some of the country’s highest infection rates, but with very few mitigating economic benefits. I recently visited Massachusetts, which has responded to the pandemic far more aggressively and competently than Iowa has. It now has one of the lowest infection rates in the country, which is why economic and social life there was notably more active and normal than it is here in plague-ridden, anything-goes Iowa....
[As of October 31, 'plague-ridden Iowa' reported 127,966 official cases (93,200 recovered) and 1,716 deaths (544/million), while Massachusetts reported 158,576 cases (127,054 recovered) and 9,991 deaths (1,450/M). - gd]
"Casselman and Tankersley sum it up well: 'A growing body of research has concluded that the steep drop in economic activity last spring was primarily a result of individual decisions by consumers and businesses rather than legal mandates. People stopped going to restaurants even before governors ordered them shut down. Airports emptied out even though there were never significant restrictions on domestic air travel.'"
Read more: https://www.niskanencenter.org/the-useful-libertarian-idiocy-of-the-great-barrington-declaration/
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