If I Were King

Government actions to "stop covid" were less than ineffective at "stopping the spread". It seems plausible that those actions actually prolonged and maybe produced a worse outcome. The measures to prevent the spread of an apparently airborne virus were ludicrous. It was even more absurd than trying to "stop the spread" of dust through legislation and policy.

For some reason people imagine governments are omnipotent entities. The media tends to report on them as pure problem solving machines. It invites a certain type of person to imagine he's driving the government robot--it's the "if I were king" fantasy.

The media reporting tends to omit the corruption and ineptitude and repeated failures of governments. Quite a lot that governments attempt to do is simply not possible, The US has engaged in a string of failed imperial wars since the 1950s. Few people, especially in the media and public commentary apparatus point out that those wars were not feasible and each of them bled the US treasury and accomplished nothing, instead they promote the concept that different tactics and strategies could have been used.

Covid "policy" is really the same. Public officials assume some mix of measures would have "worked". Some part of the public agrees. A fool, tool and corrupt scumbag like Anthony Fauci promotes the idea that if he had absolute authority, he could have stopped covid.