When frustration with poor choices among adults gets to a certain point, I tend to throw up my hands and favor mandates. It's not a scientific formula, but if enough otherwise typical adults refuse to take some action that helps society overall, there is some point when it feel fine to say the equivalent of, "Fine. If you won't listen to reason and you insist on your right to choose, no matter what, then I will make it more and more uncomfortable for you."
That ratcheting up of discomfort is where the U.S. is right now, as even Republican governors are forced to confront the irrefutable high hospitalization rates in their states. They won't go so far as to issue mandates, of course. That would bring out the crazies and the crazies would go after those governors.
As a classroom teacher I often found myself creating "rules" that put pressure on students to at least come closer to what I thought was good performance. One such rule that has merit but that often brings its own problems is for new journalism students. The rule is that a news story MUST include at least three different sources, either quoted or paraphrased.
The idea is to nudge students to NOT settle for one or two quick interviews and to speak with enough sources that we could feel more confident that we weren't missing something important. Any time a teacher sets a minimum for anything, the odds are that some percentage of students will think of that "basement" as enough. In truth, most stories worth reporting deserve more than three sources.
The same logic goes for the old essay requirements to write FIVE paragraphs for a persuasive essay. The idea was to provide some sort of structure for the writing, with an introduction and conclusion that sandwiched THREE claims (and support for each). Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with that structure, but many students clutched that formula and forced all their writing to fit that five-paragraph formula.
Classroom teachers embrace all sorts of rules, from when and how to use phones in class to how much time is allotted for a quiz to the need to raise a hand to ask a question. We can argue about how important or effective rules can be, but they at least keep the chaos at bay.
Americans are not big fans of rules, and they learned to be skeptical of rules in school, where many "rules" turned out to be preferences and conveniences for those in authority.
The government is now in the role of classroom teacher, and Americans are unlikely to suddenly become model students.
Many will protest and whine and threaten everything from civil disobedience to lawsuits to violence, but just as in their school days, most eventually comply with the "rules," grumbling all the way.
No one ever thanks teachers for imposing rules, no matter how logical and helpful those rules might be.
No one will be thanking mayors and governors and presidents for imposing rules about vaccines.
Teachers and politicians who avoid setting standards, making reasonable rules, and creating rewards and sanctions are doing no one any favors.
When I hear people claiming that all we can do as a nation is depend on individual responsibility, I wonder if those people ever attended school.
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