A malevolent, incompetent Trump administration bears much of the blame for America’s failure to control COVID-19. But there is an additional, less noticed cause: the Connecticut Compromise of 1787, which handicapped American democracy at its inception, and has since undercut Congress’s response to the pandemic.This was the compromise between the small and large states that created the Senate, the most powerful legislative body in which every state, regardless of population, gets two votes. The four largest states, with 1/3 of the U.S. population, get 8 votes out of 100. It so happens that right now, the Senators from these states are evenly divided between the parties. However, the voters of small, rural and conservative states such as Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana have grossly disproportionate representation. As Deaton explains, the disproportionate power of these states -- which so far have had low prevalence of Covid-19 infection -- has prevented any effective national response to the pandemic. The same problem distorts the electoral college, of course. In the present U.S. government, a minority of voters have a hammerlock on power.
And the rules for amending the constitution pretty much mean we are stuck with this, since those small states that benefit can block any change. I don't have a prescription for fixing this, except to change the hearts and minds of North Dakotans. Maybe we can do it.
6 comments:
At the rate we're going, the remedy may present itself in the form of the nation tearing itself apart. Either that, or those with souls and consciences will be great enough in number now to help us create a peaceful revolution to effect democratic change.
While our governmental structure certainly does grant folks like me disproportionate representation it would be a mistake to name this the root cause of our half-assed response to this pandemic. The sad reality is that america has long since given up on the idea of the state (or united states) as a mechanism for solving problems. This view is not unique to the GOP, its voters, or the right in general; it is the unexpressed conventional wisdom across 75% of the political spectrum.
The Bush II government was not fundamentally at fault for what happened in NOLA after Katrina, nor was the Trump government for PR after Maria. The truth is that FEMA was not designed to deal with things like this and has never developed the organizational competence required. God willing, we'll never find out if they're any good at their primary function, but our zeitgeist will continue to guarantee their incompetence at these secondary ones.
The country that turned Normandy into a dockyard in 72 hours can neither build a water treatment plant in Fallujah nor renew nuclear warhead trigger mechanisms.
moijrim may be right. However, much of his disappointment may come from unrealistic expectations of government. If you view government, especially a centralized government, as a solver of all problems, you will always be disappointed.
If your expectation ism instead, to keep enemies of the state at bay, provide infrastructure and a civil society, they do a pretty fair job overall as evidenced by the millions that try to immigrate.
I don't entirely agree with Mojrim. Chimpy appointed a guy whose only background was judging horse shows to run FEMA. He didn't take it seriously. FEMA did a somewhat better job under Obama, then abandoned the people of Puerto Rico under the present administration. We can do better or worse. The disastrous mismanagement of the so-called "rebuilding" effort in Iraq and Afghanistan points to arrogance and blindness to the cultural context -- trying to do it top-down without listening to or involving the local people. The public right now is demanding that the federal government invest in infrastructure; we'll see if it happens.
As for "A," I've devoted a lot of space here to confronting libertarianism. I agree that many responsibilities are best devolved to local control, but in a complex modern society there are certain essential functions of central government. An infectious disease epidemic has no respect for state or local boundaries and is the quintessential example of a problem requiring a coordinated federal response. You can't have a pissing area in the swimming pool.
A fair note from Montana.
Montana's governor, a Democrat, has been very aggressive in responding to the Covid epidemic. By mid March schools were closed and by the end of the month stay home directives issued for all but essential services. You may have heard the New York Times audio clip of the gov arguing with Trump that testing support from the Feds was sclerotic. The state's infection rate has been among the lowest in the nation despite a 20% senior population. We are currently in phase 2 reopening and with infections rising a statewide mask order for any county with more than 4 active cases.
The view from out here... this is when we expect the Feds to marshall resources both health care and people care.
Of course your premise is correct, we have greater representation in the Senate than citizens in other states. We also receive a greater share of Federal expenditures per capita than California and other states.
Legacy systems are a bitch.
COVID-19
God's punishment
for voting Republican.
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