[ocschwar]

I spent most of the 80's somewhat close to the front of a war (Israel) as a child, but I was in the US for the events of 1989, and one of the things I saw was how in the US, people learned all the wrong lessons from those events.

In Europe and in the US, there was no more denying that communism was a fail. But in the US, people got the idea that they won the Cold War by showcasing a consumer lifestyle, and that therefore it's unpatriotic to sacrifice any convenience or comfort for any national purpose. Which is how we've come to be unable to mobilize against the pandemic.

[smcl]

I've upvoted as I think it's unfair you were greyed out @ -1 or 0. However I slightly disagree that this was the main reason the US did not respond well to the pandemic. Might be a little off-topic to reopen that wound here though :)

[ocschwar]

Homefront mobilization is pretty much the same for disasters, wars, or a pandemic. If you can't do well with one, you probably can't do well with any other.