When political panic over the coronavirus resulted in hideous, wholly superfluous lockdowns back in March of 2020, not everyone suffered. As is well-known now, #richmanscoronavirus afforded the well-to-do a chance to relax a little, spend more time with kids who were similarly sidelined, read and cook, and basically do all manner of things that weren’t possible in the days before panic, and when work was conducted in offices.

Will President Biden seek to repeal the $10,000 cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes, known as SALT? Many conservatives say the SALT cap, part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, should remain in place because repeal would primarily aid high-income households in Democratic states. Open and shut case for Republicans, right? Not so fast.

In Finland, there is a sigh of relief when children accidentally hurt themselves. Just as many U.S. cities and states have certain unique claims to fame, so do most countries. In Finland, one cultural oddity is that parents don’t frantically help their children avoid mistakes. Error is embraced because it signals rapid learning.

In a sense, great minds are their own worst enemy. And surely the worst enemy of broad health and prosperity. They are because one or many great minds are surely no match for the collective wisdom of the proverbial crowd. The crowd is the market. William F. Buckley intuited the latter very well when he quipped that he’d rather be governed by the first few hundred names in the Boston phone book than by professors at MIT and Harvard.

Imagine a future defined by the past. For the purpose of When Politicians Panicked, imagine a future of laughing, cheering, joyous crowds at amusement parks, concerts, and sporting events.