I do not doubt the seriousness of the challenge and risks we face with the corona virus. I believe the doctors, scientists, and medical/health experts. These people have the training, education, and experience to make their advice very valuable and worth paying attention to in a time like this.
I do not understand why the Federal government is still putting the states in a position where they virtually are fending for themselves and trying to outbid each other for critically needed medical supplies. The president equates this crisis to a military attack similar to the attack on Pearl Harbor or even WWII. He wants us to perceive him as this grand commander in chief, yet he refuses to assert the Federal government in the role it has needed to assume in prior emergencies like the Great Depression, WWII, 9/11, and the Great Recession.
Trump continues to cater to his base in all of this. Trump’s base generally denies science and also the role of a strong Federal government, especially in the time of a crisis. I keep hearing the “state’s rights” argument. This is the same argument the Civil War was fought over, at least if you listen to the South. To this day, the South maintains that the Civil War was about state’s rights, and not about ending slavery. Yet, if you read the secession statements from each of the states that seceded, they all state they are leaving the Union to preserve the institution of slavery. My argument here rests along with most people who study history.
So, we have not come very far in the last 150 years or so. It is no surprise that the states that are denying the risks of the virus and also the science, and the states that have been very slow to implement any of the quarantine or public health measures are all in the South and Mid West/West. This attitude seems to prevail in those places where the belief is that I know best, and I will take care of myself. I do not want or need a government to do this.
These are the states that either seceded from the Union or to this day, foster folks like the Bundy family, the Waco, Texas crowd, and the Ruby Ridge folks. They are all thinking they are a country of themselves, and only part of the U.S. when it is convenient.
I think this circles back to the resistance against climate change science. The things we need to do to combat climate change are not convenient for us. The same can be said for the actions we need to take to combat the corona virus.
Stay safe and take care please. You will do this for you, for your family, and for all of us.
A Vermonter Writes - A Pathfinder 