I have a modest proposal for Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden and every other Democrat serving or running for Federal office. America is confronting the grim certainty of anywhere from a hundred thousand to a million deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are countless urgent measures we need to adopt to address this catastrophe, from the medical to the economic, and some of this is in the works.
But nowhere have I seen what strikes me as the most important measure of all.
Every Democratic official and candidate, every day, should demand that we immediately create an Office of Pandemic Response and Preparedness as a Cabinet-level agency, with Congressional authorization and approval of its membership.
This agency would serve to coordinate and organize all action addressing the current catastrophe, a critically urgent need given the chaos, corruption and incompetence the Trump administration demonstrates every day.
It would rebuild the worldwide surveillance system and liaison with other nations’ epidemiology systems that Trump’s malignant negligence destroyed. It would position the United States to deal ith future pandemics, which global warming guarantees are coming.
It would serve as a daily reminder of the Republican negligence that is now killing hundreds of Americans every single day, soon to be thousands per day.
It’s right on the policy. It’s right on the politics. It puts the optimal response to this catastrophe front and center every day.