Democracy’s ultimate boast is that societies do best when people take responsibility for their lives. Covid-19 has been putting that theory to the test. Every few months the west pops the proverbial champagne to celebrate the end of the pandemic. The hangover is worse for its predictability. The fact that western democracies are rarely able to think more than one step ahead augurs badly for their ability to fight global warming — or plan for the next pandemic.
民主制度的終極吹噓是，當(dāng)人們能對(duì)自己的生活負(fù)責(zé)時(shí)，社會(huì)能以最佳狀態(tài)運(yùn)行。新型冠狀病毒肺炎（COVID-19，即2019冠狀病毒?。┮恢痹跈z驗(yàn)這個(gè)理論。每隔幾個(gè)月，西方國(guó)家就會(huì)如諺語(yǔ)所說(shuō)的“開(kāi)香檳”那樣，歡慶疫情的結(jié)束，而這么做的“宿醉”因其可預(yù)測(cè)性而格外糟糕。西方民主國(guó)家很少能夠提前兩步進(jìn)行思考，這對(duì)它們抗擊全球變暖或?yàn)橄乱淮我咔樽鰷?zhǔn)備的能力是一個(gè)不祥的預(yù)兆。