I'm mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore

From Samizdata quote of the day by John Collier.  The English have by far had a worse Covid-19 experience than the US.  Without a decentralized power structure where all power resides with citizens and only some portions are delegated upwards to city, county, state, or Federal governments,  they are very centralized and if the center is making bad decisions, everyone suffers.  

They have had harshly imposed lockdowns for more than a year, each with the promise of opening by such-and-such a date.  The date comes and the lockdown is extended.  And then extended again.

10,000 of thousands of protestors (maybe 100,000s) periodically throng London's streets and thoroughfares.  The outbreaks of Irish Democracy, of citizens collectively choosing to ignore the bad laws, keep getting more frequent.

The sentiment below is one which I think all governments should fear. 

I’m a boring trad Tory middle England bloke with a wife, two annoying kiddies, a cat that can’t be arsed to chase mice and a dog that eats the post. But when I read Chris Whitty was being hounded by activists, instead of being shocked and going tsk, tsk, my first thought was: good. I hope you were afraid, just like you made us afraid.

But then I thought about it. I’m a nominal Christian after all. Is that really the way to make things better? Is this ever the right thing to do?

And the conclusion I’ve come to is yes. Yes it is. Until people with authority & power feel their own lives & sense of security will take a turn for the worse as a consequence of them messing up so many other people’s lives, nothing will change, at least not for the better. I don’t wear a mask anymore, anywhere, and I just ignore the half hearted bloke on the door telling me to. I’m done. I visit my family whenever I want because I’m done. I am so utterly done with this madness. I’m at the point things kicking off ugly would be a relief because that way the bad things are going in two directions and not just one.

I want this to be just disobedience but I’m up whatever at this point.

Chris Whitty is the British Chief Medical Officer of the nation and the public face of Covid-19 policies and lockdowns.  He was recently confronted or accosted by 2-4 individuals, citizens or drunks depending on the report.  This is what Collier is responding to.  

The English are famous for their stiff upper lips and muddling through the very worst of situations.  

But at some point political arrogance and incompetence can rouse the English lion.  I don't think they are close to any serious civil disturbance and the US is even further away.  But this sentiment of Collier's Howard Beale sentiment of "I'm mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore" is not a healthy leading indicator for any government.

Government is only possible as a compact of free people voluntarily agreeing to cooperate to their mutual and collective advantage.  If they rip up the contract owing to non-delivery, we get into challenging waters.