Commentary It was supposed to take two weeks to flatten the curve. Instead, in under two years, America’s authorities have flattened the republic. From the arbitrary and capricious suspension of basic life for months on end, to pervasive censorship, and the undermining of the integrity of our elections, our Ruling Class has piled incalculable costs in life and liberty on top of the casualties of the Chinese coronavirus via its despotic response to the disease—while it accrued ever-greater wealth and power. For the latest evidence of COVID-related rot in our republic, look to the Supreme Court—an institution albeit long on the downslide since well before the onset of the pandemic, under its institutionalist chief justice. Its unwillingness to halt New York State’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for healthcare workers during the pendency of litigation raised by faithful objectors not provided even the option of a religious exemption, which follows the Court’s …