What about your state? They are the ones who are supposed to handle stuff like this.
To me it is a cop-out to blame the feds. There is nothing to stop any state in our union from addressing this pandemic as they see fit. The states making up the Euro aren't blaming Brussels for their problems.
The converse would be to have one world government make decisions for everybody, right? That would work if we all agreed on everything, but we don't. So it is good to have different states try different solutions, and copy what works. Better then having a bad federal solution imposed on everyone.
> There is nothing to stop any state in our union from addressing this pandemic as they see fit
Except for zero funding...
My state is definitely to blame too, our new governor is an absolute disaster. But, we also have no serious funding left to handle the pandemic. Our last governor started a rainy day fund years ago and exhausted that last year, along with part of our wildfire fund. There is nothing left for us without federal assistance.
There is absolutely a middle ground between putting everything on the state and having one government rule the entire world. The federal government is the best equipped entity in the United States for handling the pandemic. It has the funding, personnel, and logistics management to efficiently distribute vaccines.
It is my understanding that it is the states' responsibility to handle situations like this.
The fact that some states are not doing a good job doesn't incline me to want to gamble on the federal government doing better. They don't have a good track record in emergencies.
You might end up punishing the states who are doing ok, and possibly causing a lot of problems forcing everyone into one solution.
At some point politicians need to be held accountable. Passing the buck for everything is not a great answer.
> It is my understanding that it is the states' responsibility to handle situations like this.
Its only the state's responsibility now because the federal government fumbled hard initially and had to pass blame because it was an election year. When is the last time states had to handle disaster relief on this scale with little to no assistance from the Federal government? A strong central force is crucial to handling crises like this, ours just blew it.
You can have input from local officials on setting up locations and timelines for clinics, but the 12 people making 20$/hr working in my local health department shouldnt have to deal with some of the most complex logistics the country has ever seen.
This is absolutely the best time to mobilize the massive military logistics chain in order to distribute and use vaccines as fast as possible.
If states are truly doing a great job (not many are), they can always decline assistance, but it isnt even being offered in the first place at this point.
> At some point politicians need to be held accountable. Passing the buck for everything is not a great answer.
Are you not just passing the blame onto local politicians and off of the federal level ones that hold most of the power?
Handling disasters has always been the states' responsibility. They are the ones with the power to address this. That part of the constitution is still intact. This is why Biden can suggest wearing masks, but is powerless to mandate them, amongst other things.
I think that it is wishful thinking to believe the military could be re-purposed to make a significant difference. Their job is to blow things up and kill people. It seems the field hospitals deployed were a drop in the bucket, and I assume that all doctors and nurses are already busy. What else would you expect from them, or the rest of the federal government? I'd be afraid of a single bad solution being forced on everyone. The feds have a pretty bad record of moving fast.
Perhaps this is just a difficult situation and is not going to go as smooth as you'd wish? There's no magic bullet here. It's a pandemic. Covid has killed as many people per-capita as the low end of the estimated 1-4 million deaths from the 1968 Hong Kong flu. These things happen.
Also there is no widespread disagreement on what the response should be. i.e. Would our national response follow the NY model or the Florida model?
Yes, I would blame states for local problems. If your state setup a system leaving twelve local $20/hr employees in a bad situation I would say that is your state's fault. What makes you think the feds could do a more effective job?
To me it is a cop-out to blame the feds. There is nothing to stop any state in our union from addressing this pandemic as they see fit. The states making up the Euro aren't blaming Brussels for their problems.
The converse would be to have one world government make decisions for everybody, right? That would work if we all agreed on everything, but we don't. So it is good to have different states try different solutions, and copy what works. Better then having a bad federal solution imposed on everyone.