25 June 2020
Trump Divides Us All
The lack of imagination in the Trump
administration is leading to the break-up of the
American union. By refusing to lead a national response to the COVID-19
pandemic, the president is forcing each state to harden its borders in order to
forestall the undermining of its health rules by residents of other states with
less strict (and less effective) corona virus-control policies.
This would be avoided if there were a national pandemic policy mandated on every state. However, the states’ rights argument that underpins this lack of federal action has been rejected by an apolitical disease. There is no justification for individualism when a common strategy is needed to solve a global existential problem.
Could the dissolution of our federation lead to a civil war? Could differences in national pandemic control measures likewise lead to a world war? They have already fomented chaos. The principle organization formed decades ago to address such world-wide health challenges, the WHO, is under attack by know-nothing critics like Trump who distrust all expertise.
This would be avoided if there were a national pandemic policy mandated on every state. However, the states’ rights argument that underpins this lack of federal action has been rejected by an apolitical disease. There is no justification for individualism when a common strategy is needed to solve a global existential problem.
Could the dissolution of our federation lead to a civil war? Could differences in national pandemic control measures likewise lead to a world war? They have already fomented chaos. The principle organization formed decades ago to address such world-wide health challenges, the WHO, is under attack by know-nothing critics like Trump who distrust all expertise.
The abdication of federal leadership could
make our union fall apart. The absence
of supranational coordination could make humanity fail before an inanimate
molecule.
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