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In incentivizing doctors to focus on lucrative specialties, Lombardy had given short shrift to basic preventative care. That limited what constituted the most basic surveillance system in a pandemic—family doctors who interacted with patients. In privatizing a host of services at its hospitals, the region produced a setup in which no one was fully in charge; in which no one was empowered to think systematically about how to respond to an emergency, rationing what protective gear was available. That was an invitation for the coronavirus to spread.
When people are deprived of the material for stable lives, they take refuge in traditional privileges—tribal identities, and fantasies of glorious futures enabled by reclaiming what they view as theirs.
They become susceptible to simplistic explanations peddled by demagogues who weaponize democracy itself. The result is chaos, anger, and instability. No one wins except the people who have already won.
