There were snippets on the news yesterday (21/04/20) showing thugs in Michigan – and it might not have been the only State capital – bearing what, to my untrained eye, looked like assault weapons, demanding that their Governor lift the Covid-19 movement restrictions.
Then there was the ABC Foreign Correspondent program, interviewing nurses and health care staff, who were risking being dismissed by protesting at the lack of provision of adequate PPE (personal protective equipment), which lack, in turn, was putting their own lives at risk while they were trying to save the lives of others.
And the pictures of refrigerated trucks being filled with bodies.
Has there ever been a clearer example of the abject failure of the capitalist, user pays, approach to government?
And the USA claims to lead the world!
Here in Australia, we were heading towards this approach, with crazy talk about herd immunity being bandied around, but, fortunately, a national cabinet had enough balance to steer more towards the humane and away from the ideological.
Is there a total breakdown of communication in the USA, so that people are not provided enough information for them to understand the need for the lock-down?
Or is their insistence on personal rights so strong that it overrides any means of persuading them that they need to moderate their behaviour in order to save lives – including, possibly, their own?
To me there is something totally alien about a country which claims to be Christian – which the USA does, while tolerating other faiths – which then is so selfish as to put hundreds and thousands of lives at risk by pressuring state governments to end the lock-down and allow freedom of movement when the infection rate is still rising.
And that is on top of having a health system which can barely cope with the current caseload, and which may be placed in the position of refusing help to those who cannot pay, while simultaneously sacking experienced staff for publicly, and understandably, criticising health institutions and their management.
I find it truly mind-blowing!
And the strange thing about American political attitudes is that they accept that the wealthy can be philanthropic, yet the minute anyone tries to persuade them to help other people themselves, they are accused of being communist.
Even the words ‘social welfare’ are interpreted as socialism in a derogatory way!
I have met some charming and thoughtful people from the USA but I would never in a blue fit choose to visit, let along live, there!
The final kibosh is their – IMHO – insane love affair with guns!
I think the developed world is hoping that reasonable arguments prevail and the current President is not given another term to swing his wrecking ball through democracy!
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