By Ren Ping
The COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating around the world and the situation in the U.S. is still
worrying. Statistics show that there are 1.64 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than
90,000 deaths in the U.S.
However, some American politicians are still obsessed with buck passing and political
competition, which has caused inefficiency and disorder in COVID-19 response. This is regarded
as a disastrous failure even by the American society.
What shall be done during the pandemic, saving lives or pursuing economic performance? Which
is more important, votes or the people? They are not hard choices.
However, the jaw-dropping practices of the U.S. politicians have not only hurt the life and health
of the Americans and led to the global spread of the virus, but also exposed the true colors of the
American democracy.
Instead of respecting the people and lives, they tried every means to seek selfish political gains,
such as claiming that “some manufacturing may return to the United States due to the pandemic,”
and downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic at home and fantasizing that the virus will disappear.
These conducts have revealed the indifference and cold-bloodedness of the U.S. politicians, and
ran completely against democracy.
As COVID-19 cases grew, some U.S. senators sold off stocks and then downplayed the virus’s
risk to the public. This shows that in the face of the pandemic, some U.S. politicians put their own
interests above people’s lives. How could it curb the spread of the virus and meet the expectations
of the voters?
The coronavirus is not a matter of ideology and to contain the virus calls for the respect for
science. But the U.S. has put politics above science and selfish interests above human lives in
dealing with the virus.
U.S. epidemiologists were responding to the threats posed by the coronavirus from the very
beginning, but their work was quickly politicized, noted Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman.
Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority,
said the U.S. government “is putting politics and cronyism ahead of science,” after he was
removed from that position.
“The Guidance for Implementing the Opening up America Again Framework” written by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will “never see the light of day” because it is
too detailed.
A warning given by top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci about the dangers of
reopening the economy and schools too quickly was described as “not acceptable”.
A democratic system that worships selfish political gains more than scientific facts and people’s
health is never worth being touted.
May is traditionally the Older Americans Month. A report published on the website of the White
House said that the government will recommit to doing what it can to support and care for seniors.
However, data released this May indicated that more than 1/3 of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S.
were reported from nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
What’s even worse, some American politicians even inhumanly recommended that old people
sacrifice their lives for the sake of the economy.
The U.S., which always labels itself as a role model of democracy and human rights, well explains
the inconsistency of words and deeds and extreme hypocrisy by what it has done.
The COVID-19 mortality rate among senior people, the poor and non-white people in the U.S. is
higher than that in other groups, statistic showed.
“If you are a high-income person, you can get tests a lot of times. If you’re low income, you’re not
likely to get tested at all,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation during
an interview with media.
It’s not hard to notice that the U.S. human rights are enjoyed only by the rich and democracy is a
game of the rich.
The deep-rooted problems of the American democracy have long existed, and the pandemic has
made them more prominent.
In April, Christi A. Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general at the Department of Health and
Human Services, released a report detailing medical supply shortages at hospitals. The document
embarrassed Washington, which then announced to replace the official.
Since the explosive spread of COVID-19 in the U.S., a number of officials have been fired for
telling the truth or holding opinions different from that of Washington. The root cause for this is
that the U.S. politics is driven by money and votes.
Democracy is nowhere to be found in people who stick to the autocratic thinking that those who
follow will prosper while those who don’t will perish, who act arbitrarily and appoint favored
people, and who are obsessed with political competition and ignore the interests of the people.
Democracy is a value shared by all mankind. Though it varies in countries with different historical
and cultural backgrounds, democracy should serve the fundamental interests of the people no
matter in which country.
Facts have evidenced that it is self-deceptive to claim democracy exists in a country where there
are a complete set of mechanisms and eloquent words spoken by politicians, but no respect for the
people.
We advise certain American politicians to stop being arrogant and biased, and reflect on the
weaknesses of the U.S. democracy and the real crises it is faced with, instead of pointing their
fingers at others. This is for the good of both the world and the U.S..
