If you’ve ever seen pictures of a Chinese festival you no doubt recall those huge dragons which can snake for several blocks as they wind through city streets. A closer look reveals hundreds of human feet underneath which propel the paper dragon along its course. (Sure, I know it’s really silk but we live in “virtual” times.) The people belonging to those feet remain hidden and anonymous so that all the spectators and frightened children see only see the dragon’s ferocious features.

The world today is being treated to another kind of paper dragon in the form of a coronavirus pandemic. This dragon is being contorted, manipulated, and directed by an unseen hoard of faceless bureaucrats and journalists whose sole aim seems to be capitalizing on the public’s fear and panic. Accompanying them is an administrative deep state which has by now become so entrenched that political leaders unquestioningly impose whatever draconian measures these mysterious figures may demand. It seems utterly surreal to watch formerly free societies buckle under their arbitrary, and often harmful, diktats like a bunch of new recruits in boot camp. Somehow I must have blinked when we adopted the North Korean rule of law but here we are, six months into a global boot camp with no end in sight. Continue reading →