"We may or may not have flattened the curve," Fox News's Brit Hume said recently, "but we've certainly flattened the economy." With that, Hume captured the fundamental dilemma of the nation's response to the coronavirus crisis. The methods federal and state officials chose to reduce the spread of infection — stay-at-home orders, closing "nonessential" businesses, limiting the size of gatherings — have involved enormous damage to the economy. After a period of early optimism in which some believed the disease could be conquered and then — presto! — the economy quickly turned back on, a more sobering reality has set in. What lies ahead is a long period of restoration, as well as a tricky and difficult path back to physical, and then economic, health. How should it begin? The first issue to consider is why the economy is actually shut down. Is it the result of all those government restrictions on public and private life? Listening to the media debate, there is a widespread impression that the government closed the economy and the government can open it back up. But some of the officials most thoughtfully considering how to move forward don't see it that way. "What has caused the economy to grind to a halt is not some governor or mayor's order, or some public health bureaucrat's recommendation," said Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who warned of the coronavirus's danger back in January....