There are, happily, many instances reported of our better angels emerging here and there in the midst of the COVID-19 virus surreality we are now living. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, a more insidious trait is cropping up with regularity as well — that of the informant, the moral custodian who deems him-or-herself judge, jury, and executioner of the coronavirus world order. It is a trait that is annoying on its own, but it takes on a somewhat more sinister character when it receives official government sanction.

People, free people especially, are impatient, and the longer that stay-at-home orders drag out the greater, the degree of enforcement that will be required to maintain them. In the first weeks of the pandemic, people, for the most part, cooperated willingly, recognizing the uniqueness of the circumstances. As we crawl into about the seventh week, those state and local governments that are more inclined to unyielding measures start looking about for means to keep people at home and businesses closed. Since, by and large, America is still managing to retain some of its character, the preference is to do this without tanks and bayonets. What better way than to ask your neighbors to do it for them!