“The president is saying one thing and his own task force is saying another thing and the CDC is saying another thing, and really what is a human being supposed to know or do?” Parmet said. Protesters gather at the Missouri State Capitol on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, to demand an end to the state’s stay-at-home order meant to slow the coronavirus outbreak. While it is impossible to put exact numbers to it, hyper-partisanship has compromised the United States’ response to Covid-19. It has led to decades of a thinning of the public sector, especially in the health field, leaving the country vulnerable. Wendy Parmet, who directs the Center for Health Policy and Law at the Northeastern University Law School, believes the country has moved heavily towards the individualistic spectrum. Inconsistent messages from the Trump administration has fueled this distrust. And the people who are protesting feel that the authority should lie with their interests and somehow the government is opposed to them because it is listening to other people who can't be trusted.” “That question is fueling an anti-government sentiment. “There’s a deeper question of who has authority and does the sort of knowledge experts have is authority that should be listened to?” Neem said. However, the undercurrent of the current protests from the right has exposed a distrust not only of government, but also of professors, public health officials, environmental experts, journalists and others whom society has traditionally respected. The left has traditionally sparked counterculture movements, the most recent being The Black Lives Matter campaign. Neem is quick to point out that the political right doesn’t have the monopoly on distrust of authority. “In that sense, there is that idea of ‘leave me alone’ that is being expressed from the right.” “For decades, the right has been fueling a hostility to government that has bread real and deep distrust among Americans on the right to what government, not just what government does, but who the people in government are,” said Johann Neem, an author and a history professor at Western Washington University. The lawsuits and protests are the result of long-simmering political tension. Has this pandemic exposed an economic desperation and cultural rift that threatens democracy entirely? But have we gotten to a point where those values are putting the greater public at risk and hampering this country’s response to Covid-19?ĭozens of civil rights lawsuits have been filed throughout the country since local and state governments issued stay-at-home orders designed to “flatten the curve.” Armed protestors, some triggered by angry tweets from President Donald Trump, have stormed state capitols demanding a return to normal life despite the advice from medical professionals. (CN) - The United States was founded on the concept of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
0 kommentar(er)
