1. They didn't stop the spread of COVID.
2. They were an disaster from an economic standpoint.
3. People were so quick to adapt to the lockdowns that government and business leaders can't get them to "get back to normal" no matter how hard they try. People who have been working productively from home are refusing to go back to their offices. Consumer spending habits have changed permanently, destroying many businesses and some entire industries. Commercial real estate is a time bomb waiting to explode right now.
When I look around today, I see a lot of this sentiment among perfectly normal people: "I don't GAF what my government and/or my employer tells me to do anymore."
that is not how they measure success
they measure success by percentage of compliance not results
a percentage will not comply and they will be put down hard
the vast majority will comply