In recent months, mainstream media has reported a great deal of concern that countries are using COVID as an excuse to crack down on the political opposition. U

In recent months, mainstream media has reported a great deal of concern that countries are using COVID as an excuse to crack down on the political opposition. Usually the examples given are countries in the developing world already regarded as non-free. But is there really no risk that stable Western nations, too, will be tempted to misuse laws? I don’t mean yours, where laws and enforcement of them have been relatively lax, but there are certainly reasons to be worried in Europe. France’s government was annoyed for months by the Yellow Vests protests but unable to make them go away. When it saw that instituting COVID restrictions got rid of those protests at the stroke of a pen, could this not motivate the state to maintain restrictions on gatherings for as long as possible? Elsewhere, curfews and laws against protests have benefited the governments in power, sending them to reelection, simply because opposition parties were not allowed to organize publicly and show their strength.