Posted by
Professor Eisenstein on Sunday, May 10, 2009 5:00:21 PM
The United States currently remains one of the few countries around the world to have not taken any serious action on its borders against the Mexican Flu, nor limited movement between itself and Mexico. As I have detailed earlier, even countries and entities not usually friendly to the United States, such as China, Cuba, and the EU have banned or modified travel and movement to and from Mexico. On these countries' part this was not an anti-Mexican move, only a legitimate response to secure the safety of their citizens from a killer flu that originated in Mexico.
Thank G-d, that in the United States we have "only" had the death of a young American citizen, age 30, whose only "medical condition" was having a baby.
The Obama administration is claiming that there was not a reason to close the border because nothing really bad happened. That is to say, the idea of a pandemic was over-blown and utilized solely as a scare tactic. An even more outlandish claim was that the requirement to close the border with Mexico, or ban movement between the U.S. and Mexico, was driven by bigotry and anti-Mexican sentiment.
This shows the ignorance and anti-Constitutionalism of the Obama administration. The American governments main and primary value, i.e. raison d'etre, is the security and health of the CITIZENS of the United States.
There is absolutely no way to know what would have happened with this flu if the States and local governments had not take things into their own hands. Across the country, schools were closed and events canceled or significantly modified. Frankly, most American citizens took the advise of the Vice President and stayed away from crowded public places. Ironically, the one time VP Biden spoke accurately and President Obama gets upset.
Since all these measures were taken by American citizens and by other countries with responsible governments, the Obama administration can only claim a lack of guts and courage to act. As of now, they have only gotten lucky not responsive. The Obama administration has shown its callousness and disregard for the public safety. (And by they way, how far they are willing to go not to offend a voting group.)
One cannot say: "see the world and the States did all those things as a response to the Mexican flu; but, they were unnecessary because there were not a lot of deaths." We do not know if the mildness of the American experience was due to a great degree because citizens and the States acted responsibly. If the American States and other countries, such as China and Cuba, would have acted like Obama than no one knows the consequences would have been from the Mexican flu.
What we do know is that the World Health Organization (WHO) is now projecting that close to 2 billion people around the world will come down with the Mexican flu. The WHO is also fearful of what will occur when the second round of flu in the southern hemisphere attacks in the next two months, when it will be winter there. It is also concerned about the third round, which will be in North America next winter.
Finally, neither the WHO, the CDC, nor any other government or scientist know as of yet why the strain of Mexican flu has been so deadly to the healthy. Even in the United States, the individuals who predominantly fell ill were the young and healthy.
It is quite likely that what helped ease the effect of the Mexican flu in the United States was a federal form of government that allowed the States to act even when the Federal government was paralyzed.