[greendude29]

This is ridiculous. I don't understand the defensiveness.

The United States is a nation. It has a federal government and federal bodies which are responsible for preventing spread of disease.

People can travel freely within these bounds without passports or visas or checkpoints.

Of course states have their own rules, and this is good, and yes, some states are doing better than others, but why the fear of revealing the incompetence of one nation?

This is how nation-states work in 2020 on planet Earth.

[bhupy]

The European Union also has a federal government and federal bodies which pass policies. It has a directly elected lower house that represents the People with proportional representation[1], and an upper house that represents the Member States with equal representation[2], and an executive branch with a Chief Executive that signs bills into law[3].

People can travel freely within Member States without passports, visas, or checkpoints.

Of course, Member States have their own rules, and this is good, and yes, some Member States are doing better than others, but why the fear of revealing the incompetence of one Union?

This is how Unions work in 2020 on planet Earth.

I think we both agree that looking at the EU as a whole is totally meaningless in the context of the current discussion about Amazon workers. We are simply arguing the same about the United States. This isn’t some pro-US propaganda, the only agenda here is an insistence on ensuring that we are comparing apples to apples.

P.S. Speaking of "Nation-States", hilariously enough, Gavin Newsom recently referred to California as a "Nation State"[4].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_the_European_Union

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_European_Coun...

[4] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/coronav...

[greendude29]

:(

I'm still flabbergasted at the need to compare to the EU or European states.

No where in my original comments did I bring them up, or was thinking of them. Your snide metaphor also doesn't work since the EU does not override the nation-state model. The EU parliament only exerts some powers over EU nations. The Health department of Germany cannot made decisions on behalf of the health department of France. I understand you're going to compare this to two American states, but honestly, it doesn't work.

> This isn’t some pro-US propaganda, the only agenda here is an insistence on ensuring that we are comparing apples to apples.

Again, when did I compare anything to Europe? You brought up the comparison for no reason I can comprehend. Hence my questions about the defensiveness.

I don't think we're going to agree, so happy to leave this here.

[twomoretime]

I'm the one who brought up the EU. The purpose was as a size comparison. Look at the differences in covid "stage" between different EU states - that difference is primarily a function of geography - the time it takes for the virus to spread is about the same as the time it takes to isolate and suppress it.

Now consider that the US is substantially larger and more sparsely populated. That alone ensures that it doesn't make any more sense to say "US is at stage 1" than it does to say "EU is at stage one", because that fails to capture the range of different stages in different geographic regions (countries/states). That doesn't even begin to capture policy differences.

That was the sole reason I brought it up. Nothing defensive anywhere.

[Johnjonjoan]

Just like it makes no sense to say the UK is at stage one because London is ahead. You need to stop being so pedantic. I get you guys want to compare but you're beating a dead horse.

[bhupy]

The difference is that the UK is a unitary State[1], and as such its COVID strategy is dictated at the UK-level. The sub-national units are not sovereign.

The US and the EU are federations[2][3], and their sub-national units are sovereign. Like the EU, the US’s COVID strategy has been left to the States[4].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_state

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation#Federations

[3] https://gizmodo.com/why-is-the-united-states-considered-a-co...

[4] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay...

[Johnjonjoan]

The post I was replying to clearly said that the issue was size not governance. But even with regards to that point I really don't understand how it affects what I said.

My point was that you can't say even a country is in a certain stage because the outbreaks are much more local than that. London is a month ahead of some parts of the country. So its just as incorrect to say the UK is at a certain stage as it is to say it about the EU and USA.

[bhupy]

> Your snide metaphor

If you can’t take it, then don’t dish it out.

> The EU Parliament only exerts some powers over EU nations

The same holds true for the Federal government of the US. The 10th Amendment ensures this. Similar to the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, EU law overrides Member State law (E.g. GDPR).

> The Health Department of Germany cannot made decisions on behalf of the health department of France

Yes, the same way the Minnesota Department of Health cannot make decisions on behalf of the New York State Department of Health.

> I understand you’re going to compare this to two American states, but honestly, it doesn’t work

Saying “it doesn’t work” again and again doesn’t magically make it true, you need to provide actual concrete counterpoints.

The US is a Union of States. The Federal government does not have the authority to issue lockdowns or stay-at-home orders. The vast majority of US testing is being funded and administered by States, not the Federal government. In practice, this is indistinguishable from the EU.

The US contains 330 million people, and consists of 50 different states, each with their own Constitutions, legislatures, and their own responses to COVID.

The EU contains 500 million people, and consists of 27 different states, each with their own Constitutions and legislatures.

We can do this all day, but it’s pretty clear that your argument doesn’t have any legs.

[greendude29]

> We can do this all day, but it’s pretty clear that your argument doesn’t have any legs.

It certainly doesn't once you begin to ignore facts. Coming up with literal parallels is not a good argument. No wonder you can keep it going all day.

In either case, I'm going to stop because I still don't know why we're comparing the US and the EU. I didn't start the comparison, and it has no bearing on the subject.

Period.

[Izkata]

> It has a federal government and federal bodies which are responsible for preventing spread of disease.

The response is handled at the state level, not the federal level. The federal level can provide advice and help coordinate actions between states / provide backup resources, but isn't meant to take direct action.