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America needs to be on a war footing
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/20/america-needs-be-war-footing/
As many facets of American life grind to a near halt in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, people are now asking questions like this:
Is there a way to measure the harm done to younger people, who will suffer curtailed education and lost opportunities, stress and even hunger because of attempts to slow down the disease’s progress, vs. the harm we hope to spare the country’s vulnerable citizens, including the elderly, and the nation’s health system?
And this: The world probably lost about 13 million people to various ailments in the past three months, and just over 11,000 to the coronavirus. Is it a reasonable trade-off to shut down most of the economy to prevent more covid-19 infections? Are we using a bazooka to kill a flea?
But the truth is, the time hasn’t yet come to finely measure trade-offs.
The appropriate analogy for our moment is Pearl Harbor. As bombs fell on Hawaii, life went on almost normally in the rest of the United States. But the reality was clear. The country needed to transition to a war footing.
Today, we, too need to be on a war footing. As was the case in 1941, our war is defensive and therefore just. Our job for the next six weeks is to save our health-care system in order to save a functioning society. To do this, we undertake a process of societal triage that puts us in an effective position to fight the coronavirus. How? We transition our economy from travel, culture and restaurant dining to investments in medical and sanitation supplies and services — a rapid, wrenching disruption requiring government funding if we are going to achieve the transition without economic collapse. We sacrifice in-person education and business transactions to try to control the rate of transmission. We do these things as a matter of generalized social triage to save the health system.
As many facets of American life grind to a near halt in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, people are now asking questions like this:
Is there a way to measure the harm done to younger people, who will suffer curtailed education and lost opportunities, stress and even hunger because of attempts to slow down the disease’s progress, vs. the harm we hope to spare the country’s vulnerable citizens, including the elderly, and the nation’s health system?
And this: The world probably lost about 13 million people to various ailments in the past three months, and just over 11,000 to the coronavirus. Is it a reasonable trade-off to shut down most of the economy to prevent more covid-19 infections? Are we using a bazooka to kill a flea?
But the truth is, the time hasn’t yet come to finely measure trade-offs.
The appropriate analogy for our moment is Pearl Harbor. As bombs fell on Hawaii, life went on almost normally in the rest of the United States. But the reality was clear. The country needed to transition to a war footing.
Today, we, too need to be on a war footing. As was the case in 1941, our war is defensive and therefore just. Our job for the next six weeks is to save our health-care system in order to save a functioning society. To do this, we undertake a process of societal triage that puts us in an effective position to fight the coronavirus. How? We transition our economy from travel, culture and restaurant dining to investments in medical and sanitation supplies and services — a rapid, wrenching disruption requiring government funding if we are going to achieve the transition without economic collapse. We sacrifice in-person education and business transactions to try to control the rate of transmission. We do these things as a matter of generalized social triage to save the health system.
That's it then. World War 3 started without firing a single shot because the enemy is a virus.
Jets flying over Italy. People stitching hospital masks and PPE at home. Ventilator companies ramping up production and adding shifts to hire more workers. Empty store shelves, rationing, lock downs. This is the real deal.
And if it turns out we're all overreacting and overdoing it, so what? That would be the best case scenario. It's way worse to find out we didn't do enough.
5 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
In World War II, we had FDR and Churchill. With this, we have a former reality star who hawked cheesy merchandise and banged porn stars. If we are going to fight this thing, we need real leadership now. Tomorrow may be too late. 
