Two infinity bottles (and beyond)

Let's start with drinks this week. I have a new piece up at Inside Hook about infinity bottles. This is a hobby that originated among whiskey nerds, basically creating your own blend that's constantly evolving as you consume it and top it off with new spirits. I wrote about my two favorites that I've made, an infinity rum and an Infinite Negroni, as well as some less successful attempts. This is a great way to condense your bottles if, like me, you typically have too many of them taking up your living space. I also wrote up a guide to essential home bar tools for the Distiller weblog.

Libertarians in a pandemic?

It was a baller move of Tyler Cowen to write the libertarian blog post of the year on January 1, outlining what he calls "state capacity libertarianism." Read the whole thing, but one of the emphases is on the need for a strong state capable of addressing the problems appropriate to it, one of them being public health. (Public health is often used to encompass far more than it should it in my view, but prevention of infectious diseases certainly counts.) The current situation has elicited a lot of lazy attacks on libertarians, such as this break from The Atlantic's otherwise excellent COVID-19 coverage from March 10. The same day I tweeted that "one might also end up viewing this as a point in favor of 'state capacity libertarianism' if feeble early responses create conditions for more drastic interventions later." That's an apt description of what's happened, as weak government responses in the early phases of the pandemic set the stage for the complete shutdowns and drastic economic interventions happening today.

The most thorough look at this I've seen is the Washington Post's investigation into how the CDC, FDA, and the Trump Administration squandered our best chances to fight the virus early. (Contrast this with the Faroe Islands, where a single lab designed for testing salmon quickly adapted and helped contain the virus.) We've also seen numerous instances of regulations hindering the response to the crisis, some of which are being relaxed: big ones like letting doctors practice across state lines or to offer telemedicine to older patients who would risk infection during an in-person visit, and small ones like reversing plastic bag bans and allowing bars to sell cocktails to-go. A lot of these changes are likely temporary, but they'll also be harder to justify when things go back to normal. The hashtag #NeverNeeded has taken off on Twitter to document laws and regulations that are getting in the way of the pandemic response and that we can arguably scrap for good.

On the positive side, Nick Gillespie hopes that this may kickstart technologies allowing more remote work, education, and leisure. And while our own government struggles to effectively allocate trillions in spending, Bill Gates is promising to fund the production of multiple vaccine candidates; this is an obviously useful project that government could be funding, but isn't. The question of whether billionaires should exist was a legitimate question in a recent Democratic debate, but given the incompetence of our federal leadership, it's good that there are other centers of wealth that have the foresight and capacity to take on grand projects.

The worst blows to libertarianism in the pandemic have been self-inflicted, primarily coming from those who insist on downplaying the dangers of COVID-19. Most notable is the remarkable and widely read New Yorker interview with Richard Epstein, which is a case study in the need for intellectual humility. But for the most part, I agree with Scott Sumner, who writes that "libertarianism dodged a bullet."

Recommended reading

Michael Munger on state capacity libertarianism and COVID-19. Eric Boehm skeptically investigates the claim that 80% of America's drugs come from China. Many strains of the virus appear to have been circulating in New York via Europe and crossing the United States. Reasons to be skeptical of Trump's favored treatment for the virus. A thorough piece on combating coronavirus trutherism. New York's restaurant letter grades as a shakedown. Why social distancing is the perfect time to tell your crush how you feel. David Hockney urges you to take up paintbrush or pencil.

Social distancing

To read: I finished reading Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson's The Narrow Corridor this week. Highly relevant to questions about state capacity, why some society's grow increasingly free and prosperous, and why others fall into despotism. Similar in scope to Guns, Germs, and Steel, but with an emphasis on the conditions balancing state and society rather than geography.

To listen: When Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne died from COVID-19 last week, I revisited their fantastic album Welcome Interstate Managers. Famous for the single "Stacy's Mom," it's good all the way through and great for driving (but who's driving anywhere?).

To drink: Since the sun's coming out finally in Portland, here's a warm weather aquavit Last Word riff called Witch's Gold, a throwback to a Hans Christian Andersen inspired Aquavit Week event with Chantal Tseng in Washington, DC.

1 oz aquavit, preferably Gamle Ode Celebration or Aalborg Jubilaeums
3/4 oz Strega
3/4 oz lemon
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
Shake and serve up

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