Living in a Failed State?

The Coronavirus revealed America's failures. We Are Living in a Failed State: The coronavirus didn't break America. It revealed what was already broken. And that is how an article in the Atlantic scheduled for publication in the June 2020 edition of the magazine begins. 

I do not know if the Atlantic is considered a liberal or conservative publication, but it should not matter, we have become too preoccupied with the slant of the news. I am more interested in the information presented and does it pass muster.

The article starts with a like a runaway truck going down a long hill and doesn't stop. The author compares the U.S. response to the coronavirus with that of Pakistan and Belarus. 

One paragraph in the article really struck a chord with me in describing our state of unpreparedness:

Every morning in the endless month of March, Americans woke up to find themselves citizens of a failed state. With no national plan—no coherent instructions at all—families, schools, and offices were left to decide on their own whether to shut down and take shelter. When test kits, masks, gowns, and ventilators were found to be in desperately short supply, governors pleaded for them from the White House, which stalled, then called on private enterprise, which couldn’t deliver. States and cities were forced into bidding wars that left them prey to price gouging and corporate profiteering. Civilians took out their sewing machines to try to keep ill-equipped hospital workers healthy and their patients alive. Russia, Taiwan, and the United Nations sent humanitarian aid to the world’s richest power—a beggar nation in utter chaos.

I highlighted the last line. 

Wow. Read the article--there are many more paragraphs worth reading and quoting to stimulate discussion and educated comment.

From Governor Cuomo's News Conference via You Tube
April 23, 2020

From Governor Cuomo's News Conference via You Tube
April 23, 2020

But, I don't want to focus on the Atlantic article only--because Senator Mitch McConnell has also demonstrated incredible insensitivity by suggesting that cash-strapped states should go bankrupt. I have to agree with Governor Cuomo--states provide essential services such as law enforcement and fire protection among many others, yet the Congress is willing to fund small businesses through record setting bailouts but not assist the states? There is something wrong with that equation. And the insensitive comment about "stopping blue state bailouts." Does Senator McConnell believe that it is OK for democrats to die of COVID-19 to save republicans?

Symptoms of a failed state? 

Sadly, it seems probable. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD