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The government’s reaction has been the usual mix of prevarication and incompetence. For thirteen years it has tried to frighten us into bloody and costly wars and surrendering our civil liberties to fight an overblown threat of terrorism. Now officials are telling us not to worry or panic about Ebola—reason enough to worry and take precautions. Medical screenings, travel restrictions, quarantines, and other abridgments of liberty may be necessary to fight Ebola, far more necessary than the police state apparatus constructed to fight terrorism. Yet, politicians and bureaucrats are displaying the same insouciant ignorance about the exponential growth function of microorganisms as they have of the exponential growth function of compounding interest on our debt. If it becomes life-or-death crucial for the government to maintain public order and safety, it will—again—almost certainly be an agent of chaos.