Without that focus, no reform effort can get anywhere. That is surely a main takeaway from the trauma of our times.

The solution has to be drastic and it has to work. The reason is simple: a free and functioning society cannot coexist with an undemocratic beast like this on the loose, making its own laws and running roughshod over rights and liberties with zero oversight from elected leaders. Until the administrative state is defanged and disempowered, there will be no representative government and no hope for change.

It's obvious that the bureaucracies will not reform themselves. In promising an overhaul of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, Rochelle Walensky emphasized better communication and less confusing messaging to the public. This is the appearance of an apology: "I'm sorry you're upset." The reform will be the same: cosmetic without reality. It will not deal with the central problem as plainly stated by Harvey Risch: "industry subservience and epidemiologic incompetence."

The agency wants another chance. Maybe it does not deserve one. Still, let us reflect on how reform happens in the real world outside of government.