
America Was Ripe for Humiliation - 80mph
https://abovethelaw.com/2020/07/america-was-ripe-for-humiliation/
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seibelj
There are no countries that are perfect models for COVID. The ones that have
totally “contained” it are either tiny and isolationist or lying / not
testing. Previous countries that seemed like models of good now have
outbreaks. This virus is simply too difficult to contain, it seems to spread
extremely easily.

America has decentralized governance. Every state, and even every county, can
determine their own rules to a large extent. Money is handed from the federal
government to the states with very few strings attached. It is
constitutionally impossible to have a “one size fits all” approach, and also
people are so independent-minded that any iron fist is immediately given the
middle finger.

Articles like these that harp on about how bad America is seem to be unable to
explain why so many people want to come here, and why we have to pass laws to
prevent them from coming. For all America’s warts it’s still the best place to
live.

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glial
> For all America’s warts it’s still the best place to live.

Serious question: have you lived in another country?

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chub500
Yes the US was shamefully arrogant about Covid (bipartisinly so) but saying
the Trump electorate is racist basically destroys the article's credibility.

The US has historically been in the top tier of nations because of 1. their
universities, 2. their acceptance of immigrants 3. their culture (Hollywood
etc) 4. public works (GPS, internet, etc).

Perhaps the US is on the decline. The apex of the Byzantine empire after all
was Justinian's plague. I wouldn't say the US decline is due to a failure to
enact socialist policies though. Europe is hardly the world center of
creativity and innovation.

