By Brownstone Institute at Brownstone dot org.

A second imposition of lockdowns is closer than we might think. Very powerful people want that even under the slightest pretext. Brownstone Institute is asking for your support to stop them.

When two passengers on a luxury cruise ship died from Hantavirus (a high-mortality infection from rat feces), and another tested positive, mainstream media created a global frenzy. Out came the images of hazmat suits and masks, along with demands for universal contact tracing.

The entire show was designed to elicit memories of fear from six years ago.

A Washington Post columnist said she would gladly lock down again and urge everyone to do the same, except of course for those forced to deliver food to her house.

Moderna's stock started rising again and why? Because the company is working on a so-called vaccine.

The supposed experts were out in full force, including familiar names and faces such as "scarf lady" Deborah Birx, who appeared in countless interviews as an expert.

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The consultants were, too, and so were the bureaucrats. They dusted off their lockdown plans. Seventeen Americans were pushed into a 42-day quarantine merely for having contact even though they tested negative and had no symptoms. They complied but what if a few had not? Interesting to consider.

All the forces have lined up. To be sure, we have some Brownstonians in high places who are leaning against the pressure, hoping to dial back the panic. There is nothing good that locking down accomplishes, they correctly say. It only wrecks commerce and social functioning.

Incredibly, this lesson still hasn't stuck. The prevailing verdict on the Covid years: we should lock down sooner and harder for the next viral outbreak. An entire class of elites is just waiting for the opportunity.

A second lockdown is an intolerable threat, a Sword of Damocles that floats above the freedoms we do have. It was only six years ago that they did it with calamitous results. They have every intention of doing it again.

No civilized society can work this way. Freedom cannot work this way.

We are being prepared. The difference this time is that we have some saner people in charge but can they overcome the pressures? That's not obvious. We also have a larger population of people who will not go along. That is clear from social media.

But will we have the choice? The lockdowners have new weapons in their arsenal like debanking and planned shortages. There will also be the usual humiliation rituals in place for anyone daring to dissent.

Above all else, this time we have Brownstone Institute. We were founded in 2021 to be a voice for clarity, rationality, science, and freedom in the darkest times. Our many thousands of articles and global voice have been mighty. It's built a serious intellectual and social resistance.

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People have yelled at us for years to stop talking about Covid. No. That experience was the template. There have been no apologies for a reason: they are not sorry. They have every intention of deploying that model for the future, complete with forced injections.

This is not speculation. The World Health Organization says this. The powers of the public health bureaucracies permit it. The banks will cooperate. The Digital ID is spreading globally and will be used for enforcement. Surveillance is everywhere. A CCP-style social credit system? All the pieces are in place.

The cultural and economic calamity of the last lockdown should be obvious. Our money's purchasing power is down by a third or more. Student testing on reading and math entered a free fall. Labor force participation never fully recovered. A third of US working-age men are missing from the workforce. The national debt in all countries ballooned out of control.

That said, the bureaucrats enjoyed the power, tech companies like the new attention for housebound professionals, and the pharmaceutical companies earned hundreds of billions. Never mind that the sh...