[mindslight]

I don't see "lots of bad precedents", so please elaborate on what you mean.

What I saw were a bunch of temporary measures directly supporting public health, in line with past precedents from prior generations, that were eventually ended - which is a lot better than we can say for any teeth in the ratchet of techno-authoritarianism that has been slowly advancing over the past several decades!

The main thing I saw, and it was more of a demonstration rather than a precedent, was how readily people are led to political rallying cries that go against their own stated values, common sense, and the realities of a situation. How quick people are to tear down our institutions given the right leader that plays to their immediate feelings.

To me, that is the authoritarianism we can draw a direct line from to what we are facing today - basically the continued escalation of giant douche vs turd sandwich. But that's not what people seem to mean when they hand wave about authoritarianism during Covid. Rather such gripes are more often an embrace of that trend!