This is the last of a five-part series.
I believe that one of the ways to mitigate tyrannical decisions is being prepared for whatever is headed our way. As we endure month seven of the COVID-19, it is brutally apparent that the United States (and the world) were woefully unprepared for this pandemic.
As you think back to the beginning of this event, we were told a myriad of things to do and not do: don’t wear masks–they don’t help--or put on your mask. In fact, if you’re caught without one in public you will be jailed. Socially distance, stay home, you’re better off outside, and the list continues.
From all of these conflicting instructions, one thing is apparent: no one had a plan. That is hard to fathom when the government spends inordinate amount of time and money planning for just about everything.
How did we miss this one, and how do we ensure this does not happen again?
First and foremost, effective future preparedness and planning requires an honest look back at where government failed.
Solutions must be developed, so government has a better understanding of the scope of both their responsibilities and accountabilities.
Public health officials should not again be caught flat footed and unprepared, as they were during this pandemic. Hospitals must be better equipped to deal with future pandemics.
At the federal level the mission of Health and Human Services should be re-evaluated. This large, unyielding bureaucracy has not served the people well during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency currently employs nearly 80,000 people and has a budget of 1.286 trillion dollars. It administers more grant money (nearly 500 billion dollars) than all other federal agencies combined. In its eleven operating divisions, it deals with everything from Administration for Community Living to providing guidance to protect against ransomware. It is time for this organization to rediscover its roots and focus on the health portion of its name.
Making the American health care system more nimble at all levels should be a focus for the future. This can be done by continued deregulation of the industry as a whole.
The United States should never again be caught importing large quantities of pharmaceuticals from any country, much less one that is openly hostile and the producer of the pandemic.
Manufacturing of drugs--be they anti-viral or day-to-day necessities--must return to the United States as quickly as possible.
Governments at all levels should make a concerted effort to identify and stockpile needed medical supplies before the next pandemic. As we just experienced, it is exceedingly difficult to provide such items on a last-minute basis.
Every effort must be made to protect the most vulnerable in our populations. It cannot be surprising to our health care professionals that the elderly will suffer the greatest casualties from a unique virus.
Never again should the infected be placed in elderly care or rehab facilities. Additionally, all such facilities must update their protocols for dealing with epidemics with an eye toward incorporating what they have just learned during this event.
Is there any question that this pandemic--and all the previous ones since 1918--are viral in nature? Then it seems a no-brainer that the health professionals of our country should be putting maximum effort into developing antiviral medicines. Hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved if medical professionals had done a little future planning in this area.
Perhaps the most contentious part of living in the COVID era has been the often unhinged decrees of governors and mayors. State legislatures must review and revise the statutory power they have given governors with an eye toward limiting their power.
Legislators must also quit abdicating their responsibilities to governors, mayors, health officials, and other unelected bureaucrats during times of pandemic. Instead, they must be more responsive to the needs of the people.
Legislators hiding in their basements does not enhance the population’s ability to throw off unreasonable mandates by governors or mayors.
Similar to active shooter training, schools should be prepared for pandemic related issues to disrupt the school year. All schools should have viable fall-back strategies that incorporate distance learning skills.
School districts should never again be surprised by governmental stay-at-home orders. They need clear and coherent strategies that benefit the students first (not the teacher unions), with an eye toward assisting parents when children are ordered home.
The movement of people through public transit is a critically important issue. All transit systems must develop mitigating methods when faced with pandemics. The last possibility should be total shut down as we saw in New York.
There is no doubt that humanity will face yet another pandemic driven by a virus. In fact, while the loss of life (150,000 in the United States alone) is regrettable, in some sense the country “dodged a bullet.” The next one may be more contagious, more virulent, and ultimately more deadly.
I can only hope that for the sake of mankind, we have learned lessons that will not be forgotten for the next go around.
This is the last installment of "Tyranny in the Time of COVID-19." Throughout this effort, I have tried to take a balanced approach. In exploring the impact on special populations, as well as generally on all citizens of the United States, one thing stands out: unfettered power by the ruling class in America has led to tyranny.
Ultimately the only guard against this dynamic is a population that pushes back against unreasonable and ineffective edicts.
Without an involved populous, we will all be at the mercy of the ruling class in America.
Sources
1. National Coronavirus Recovery Commission Recommendations dated May 19, 2020.
