(B) is the problem. we do Federalism here and South Korea doesn’t...and no it’s not even close to being worth changing.
Huh? Just because I'm saying "We could learn a thing or two from South Korea" in no way implies "let's ditch our system of governance."
The flexibility of the USA's system is outstanding. It allows for both competition and cooperation, depending on the problem that needs to be solved.
Since the pandemic affects all fifty states, a
coordinated strategy would have been immensely helpful. For example, it's a tragedy we didn't have a centralized strategy for the manufacturing and distribution of testing kits. Instead, different states had to compete with one another for access to testing kits and materials (cotton swabs, reagents, lab processing, etc.). This led to chaos and inefficiency, with middle men making obscene profits from price gouging, sometimes charging
ten times market value prices.
If handled correctly, leadership from the Federal government would have been
welcomed by the States. There's would have been no need to "coerce" the States into a plan where everyone benefits form cooperation.
In South Korea, they managed to distribute hundreds of thousands of tests at lightning speed, clamping down EARLY and preventing a major outbreak. Meanwhile, back here in the USA, on April 20th, the governor of Maryland ordered 500,000 testing kits from South Korea-- and then had to call in his own State Police to prevent the Feds from snatching away his stockpile! Unbelievable!
No coordination, no cooperation, no plan. The USA's response to Covid has been a complete clusterf**k of confusion and inefficiency.
The problem is not at all America's system of governance. The problem was a complete lack of leadership and planning.
