A More Civil Service

None of us will emerge from these months and months of plague unchanged or unscathed, whether by personal suffering and loss or by the realization that we need to do better, be better. For decades, we were sold the idea that self-reliance and competition trump interdependence and cooperation, that government, rather than being the expression of our common will, was best viewed as a necessary evil — as overhead to be kept as small as possible. COVID‑19 has revealed the huge, even fatal costs of allowing our collective tool kit to atrophy. It has shown what happens when we neglect the so‑called care economy, which includes everything from public health to nursing homes, child care to education, worker protections to income supports.

But in the wake of what might be a solidarity renaissance, as we recognize that we need each other and are stronger together, government seems to be making something of a comeback. Even the Financial Times believes now is the time...