The Problem With Declaring a 'Pandemic Amnesty'

Last week, The Atlantic published an article by Emily Oster titled “Let’s Declare A Pandemic Amnesty.”This may seem reasonable at first glance, but her proposal fails in two key ways.

Source: The Problem With Declaring a 'Pandemic Amnesty' - Foundation for Economic Education

I can't say that I understand this talk of "amnesty". Forgiveness is one thing and something that I support 100%...at least for those that are truly repentant (those that recognize their failures, admit to them and apologize sincerely for them) as opposed to those that are just making excuses. However, forgiveness does not excuse one from accountability.

Those that are in power, whether elected officials or those appointed to their positions, have a responsibility to execute their job competently. I'm not saying it's always easy. Work is hard. Still, when you make horribly wrong decisions, no matter how good your intentions are, you have to be held accountable for those decisions. That doesn't necessarily mean execution in the public square but it does mean (or should mean) losing your job. Those who make poor decisions, at least when they are so spectacularly poor, should not be left in a position to continue to make poor decisions. Sure, hopefully they have learned from their mistakes but let's see them apply that knowledge somewhere where the consequences are less dire first, before we continue to let them make policy decisions that affect hundreds of millions of people.

So sure, show me someone in power who is truly sorry for the poor decisions they made (good luck) and I'm happy to forgive them. But they've clearly failed horribly at their job and it is time to let someone else give it a try. The damage done is too great to just let it pass with no accountability. There is too much at stake.