America's Shame

My friend Jason has given me permission to pass on to you his observations on the glaring contrast between the way the Scandinavian countries have approached the current Covid-19 pandemic and the way the United States of America has done it. He is justifiably proud of the way Denmark has comported itself. Denmark is the land of his roots. The United States has been his place of residence since his college days. He does not feel comfortable calling it home.

I have gone back and forth with Jason over the years over his critical view of what I call, following the normal conventions, "America," and what he prefers to flip off as "South-Central North America." He sees the place as pretty much a joke. A lost cause. I've complained that he has done it a disservice by allowing it to be represented by the reprobates, rather than by those who, like me, continue to hold out hope the dream that is America can be kept alive. Other than that, our views on what is going on here are pretty much in sync.

It's a glass half-full, half-empty story. Twice now in recent years, first with W and now with Trump, the Republicans have managed to rip the presidency out of the hands of the majority of voters. I say America is the dream; Jason says America is the people who call the shots. I have to admit I am not on the firmest of ground in this argument. It's all well and good to insist that America never was and never will be a democracy, that democracy is the word we've chosen to use for the aspiration - the dream - and not an accurate description of our form of governing ourselves. What are we to do with the fact that the pundits are warning us that Trump's White-Supremacist Enablers, the Republican Party, who are masters at voter suppression and gerrymandering, knowing they can count on the Electoral College System to work in their favor, could win a second term?  If they do, few doubt that the already largely successful process of dismantling our democratic institutions would only quicken and, as with the global climate crisis, we may already have passed the point of no return.

It's a stark, seriously depressing picture.

As I say, I still hold out hope. I'm hoping I will look like a fool when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are installed in the White House and the big money/Christian nationalist gang is sent packing next January. Look like a fool who cried the sky is falling and called it terribly wrong. I can't remember ever wanting so badly to be wrong.

But there it is. America on the precipice, and tipping over.

The Corona-virus is bad enough as a disease we have yet to get control over. It is even worse as the symbol of a country stupid enough to have surrendered not only a once passionate love of democracy but a dedication to integrity and commitment to truth, as well.

Here is what Jason had to say recently in a letter to a friend:

This pandemic has been going on long enough that some things [have] become obvious through simple observation. Top of the list is that the United States politicians have failed miserably in preventing the spread and saving lives. They are closing in on a quarter of a million deaths . . . just because the politicians want to be able to say the economy is robust so everybody should function normally. It is the ultimate in selfish "re-election" strategies and the people in North America are just too damned stupid to do anything about it and stuck in a ridiculous 18th-century system that was never designed to deal with 21st-century problems. 

The best example, mentioned by many, is Sweden. They have just over ten million people. They did practically nothing at the beginning beyond a mild "oh stay home if you don't feel well." Almost six thousand people have died in Sweden – about 576 people for every million in population. 

Neighboring countries Norway and Denmark together have about eleven million people, so slightly more than Sweden. They both took immediate, drastic measures very early on including strict quarantine rules, virtually shutting both countries down for an extended period. Together, with a combined population greater than Sweden, Norway and Denmark have had fewer than 900 deaths, fewer than 80 deaths per million people. 

The only difference is the measures the governments took at the beginning. Norway and Denmark listened to their epidemiology specialists, ramped up for ample testing and tracking and imposed stringent quarantine measures. Sweden did not. 

Of course, the US no longer qualifies to even be listed amongst the humane countries of the world. There is simply nothing to compare them to. In Denmark, about 95% of the population gives the government very high approval ratings for handling the virus crisis. Not even a majority approves of what the US government has done. 

In late July and August, Denmark began to slowly "re-open" with shitloads of guidelines, continued abundant testing and tracking and extensive special guidelines for schools (which open in August). There was another "outbreak" of the virus. Health and government officials were on it in two days. They quickly realized the spike in cases was coming from specific places – a slaughter house in Jylland was one of them. Immediate isolation. Immediate tracking. Immediate testing of everybody who had been in contact with the new cases. 

The numbers dropped spectacularly within three weeks. They are now so low they are looking at a "managed crisis." The spread rate in Denmark is at .8, meaning an infected person does not spread it to another person but would have to be in contact with several people before the virus spreads. That is very close to the point where the virus stops spreading at all. 

 

Yesterday, Denmark's National Health Minister credited the government's measures in the virus crises and also the people of Denmark, crediting them with listening and taking the advice of the health professionals. There are currently only two people in the whole country in critical care – because an entire population listened and took the necessary measures. 

It is sad to watch, but at this point there probably is no solution here in the US. The government does next-to-nothing, the population is off on some up-your-ass no-mask protest and more people died of Covid-19 in the US yesterday than have died in all of Norway and Denmark since the virus was first identified. 

In my humble opinion, they should be dusting off the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg for the trial of US politicians for 21st-century crimes against humanity.

There is a case to be made that it is unfair to cast the United States in such a bad light when its record of fighting the Corona virus is by far not the worst in the world. Many countries have more cases in proportion to their population: Belgium is way worse, at 8.6 per 10,000, and so is the UK at almost 7 per 10,000 compared to the U.S's 4.8.  And when you look at the case fatality rate (as Trump likes to do) the U.S. is pretty low, at 3.3%, which puts us in 24th place among countries with over 50,000 reported cases. Then there's the problem of how countries are ranked. Since the disease hits older people harder than younger people, comparing the U.S. unfavorably with Uganda, for example, where the average age is 15.9, gives skewed data.

So the U.S., while not exactly a model in handling the pandemic, is not the most incompetent of nations, and "crimes against humanity," pace Jason, is rhetorical excess.

And then there is the argument that it is unfair to compare manageable countries like Norway and Denmark, with populations smaller than many American cities, with increasingly unmanageable behemoth countries like India, Brazil and the United States, which probably could do a lot better if they chose to become more effective police states like China. But given these trade-offs, there's still much to find fault with in the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we still haven't fully faced up to our history of slavery, segregation and genocide and made sincere efforts to put things right by addressing the resultant racial gap. 

To say nothing of our astonishing ability to forget, and I don't mean simply slavery and segregation, but even much more recent history. I called Jason on his rhetorical excess. But he's only being excessive if it's our way of dealing with the pandemic he's talking about. If he's looking at the bigger picture (and I think he is), it's a different story. The recent remaking of George W. Bush into a good guy since he looks so much better than Donald Trump is a perfect example.  W can't hold a candle next to Trump when it comes to lying, but Trump never lied us into a war, and all the smoochy-smooch by Barack and Michelle Obama won't wash that away. On that front, I'm with Jason.

I see hope in the street protests and movements like Black Lives Matter, if we can get Americans to make the distinction between the earnest protesters and the thugs and looters who can be counted on to piss in the melting pot.

Vote, damn it. Vote.

It won't fix what's wrong with America, since what's wrong with America are the critical masses of white supremacists and democrats who, instead of providing a counter force to the rapacious Republicans, throw their weight behind big money, as well. Biden/Harris won't fix that.

But for now, it's all we've got. Something to stop the hemorrhaging until the doctor comes.