Townhall Review | Commentaries

One silver lining in the dark coronavirus cloud is the revival of federalism, the old-fashioned idea that not every issue has to be decided in Washington. While most every policy issue—from education to health care and beyond—has traveled a one-way road from states and local governments to Washington, the coronavirus crisis rediscovered a leadership role for state and local government.

Early on we learned that states like New York, California and Washington needed to address the crisis more quickly and their governors began to lead. In California, there were higher concentrations in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, so mayors and county commissioners took action. Important work was done well before there was a national consensus, and these laboratories of experimentation informed larger policies.

This is exactly how the founders saw our government working. Hooray for the revival of federalism.

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It came at 2:41 AM on the 7th of May, 1945, the final unconditional surrender of Nazi forces. The surrender came as Nazi General, Alfred Jodl, came into a room and signed the unconditional surrender, which at that point was only 234 words in five paragraphs. That's all it took.

But actually behind it, what it took was the death of approximately 100 million human beings in both theaters of the war. It took the largest military effort in all of human history to defeat Nazi Germany, but Nazi Germany was finally defeated. Adolf Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin. Nazi Germany was a vanquished foe, and the unconditional surrender to which the Allied Forces had agreed was absolutely necessary. Finally, it was in hand.

Dwight David Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, would call General Omar Bradley and say simply, "Brad, it's over." And it was.

Sometimes, human history comes down to moments like that, moments we dare not forget—now 75 years later.

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In a tough time, here is something worth saying: Happy Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day is a throwback to an era when it was clear that biology drove identity. With fatherhood, motherhood shaped personal existence. Motherhood was also distinct from fatherhood; mothers bless their families in countless ways, cooking, nurturing, teaching, and loving.

Motherhood has suffered many attacks of late. But it is not extinct, and we need it greatly. In a pandemic, many around us are watching mothers do even more than normal, with little time for release, relaxation and rest. Yet in such trying circumstances, gold is refined, and emerges all the brighter for it.

Some today do not adequately appreciate motherhood and womanhood. But many of us do; at least we try to. We watch mothers work their craft every day. We celebrate them; we thank them; with the deepest affection, we say that we love them.

Happy Mother’s Day.

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People find many things terrifying: pandemics, tsunamis, robberies, no wi-fi signal or a cable outage. Add something else to this sobering list: the cancellation of summer camp.

A tweet from the New York Post voiced this fear: Can parents survive months of hell as the coronavirus cancels summer camps? The Post article quoted one mother whose son can’t attend a $14,000 summer camp: “I’m 100 percent in panic mode.”

Every father and mother can attest to the unique challenges of this pandemic season. But there is much good at hand. Families need not panic; we can reconnect. Summer hours can be long, but we can redeem them. Tensions may rise at certain points, but we can practice forgiveness, humility, and character development.

We shouldn’t despise our children, and time with them; we should cherish our kids.

This is a time to persevere; to pray; to play. It’s certainly not a time to panic.

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President Trump has before him a unique opportunity to put the American manufacturing sector into first gear again while serving notice to the Chinese Communist Party that the United States is fully alert to the competition ahead, ready to respond to the CCP’s negligence in handling the current pandemic that began in Wuhan, China.

The U.S. Navy celebrated last week with the Navy’s selection of the Fincantieri Marinette Marine to build the first 10 of the fleet’s new guided-missile frigates, known as FFG(X). It’s a lethal, missile-filled porcupine of a ship that will provide presence and deterrence across the globe—nowhere more strategic today than in the South China Sea.

President Trump can cement his legacy as a navalist president alongside John Adams, the two Roosevelts and Ronald Reagan by directing the Navy to quintuple their initial order. Some think it will go even higher, but five times the initial mark will be a good start.

We are today and will continue to be a maritime nation—a nation desperately in need of this expanding fleet.

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Congress is going to pass some sort of “Phase Four” relief package—simply because it must. It will likely be the most significant piece of spending legislation in my adult life.

What should be in it?

We absolutely must rebuild our defense industrial base. A strong defense will be essential for our response to the government whose negligence visited this pandemic on the world: the Chinese Communist Party.

Any subsequent help to the private sector cannot be advanced without liability protection. Federal law must preempt all state tort law concerning liability for coronavirus-related claims of negligence and intentional injury.

The collision with China has also put a new focus on Big Tech. These companies need to be pressed to side forthrightly and finally with the American republic that created the free minds and free markets that gave them birth.

“Phase Four” is shaping up to be the “law of a legislative lifetime.”

There’s no time to spare.

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The vast fiscal crisis descending on states as a result of COVID-19 will challenge them all.

But the financial burdens brought about by massive tax-revenue losses caused by the virus should not be conflated with the preexisting financial conditions of many states.

Some states will try to secure financial bailouts for long-practiced profligacies and do so at the expense of the more thrifty, prudent states.

New York Governor Cuomo has been raising his voice, literally, trying to divert attention from this core dilemma, using the genuine suffering and an anti-McConnell press as a shield. But Governor Cuomo shouldn’t be allowed to cloud the clear vision of the massive problem.

The coming debate really isn’t about Trump, Cuomo or McConnell. It’s about structural federalism, the genius of our republic.

This isn’t about grace. Much grace, in the form of vast grants of funds, has already been given.

It’s about federalism.

And it’s about prudence.

That which gets rewarded gets repeated.

If we reward that financial mismanagement, we’ll get more of the same.

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California’s governor recently floated the idea of reopening the state’s K-12 schools as early as July. It’s an idea that should be applauded and encouraged in other states. Reopening America’s schools is not only important for the future of our kids, but also for bringing our workplaces back online and jumpstarting the economy.

One of the few glimmers of hopeful news we’ve heard about the coronavirus is that it tends not to be as deadly or harmful for school-aged kids. Even so, reopening the schools has to be done carefully and with special attention paid to the students, parents, teachers and staff who might be at greater risk.

Classrooms and student interactions will need to account for social distancing norms to help prevent the spread of the virus, and not all schools can begin at the same time. But re-opening our schools should be a priority for policymakers as we try to bring America back from the depths of this horrible disease.

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We’re now engaged in a national discussion about how to balance public health and economic health.

It’s the right discussion to have.

We need to embrace both as goals, not sacrifice one to another. But I’d like to add culture to the equation. Quarantines are essential during a pandemic. Economic growth is essential too, because poverty kills.

But so are certain cultural institutions and patterns. Private associations can also be essential. Churches, synagogues and recovery groups stand between us and despair and between us and death.

No. I’m not calling for civil disobedience by worshippers.

But, I am calling for civil officials to obey their mandate to uphold the public good by fully counting the cost of what is shut down—and for how long it’s shut down.

As we move toward resumption of our activities, our public servants should give deference to what is the most life-sustaining public gathering for tens of millions of Americans.

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Even the New York Times now acknowledges it: the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t so much a national crisis as it is a localized New York catastrophe. Columnist Bret Stephens shows New York City alone—representing less than 3 percent of the national population—suffered more coronavirus deaths than 41 states combined.

New York State has registered 79 deaths per 100,000 residents; only three states outside the North East—Louisiana, Michigan and Illinois—even show a death rate of more than ten per 100,000. California and Texas, the largest states by population, report combined death rates of less than 4 per 100,000—less than one-nineteenth the New York rate.

Nevertheless, the Big Apple remains the headquarters for national media and financial institutions, which amplifies the impact of the city’s agony. All Americans must care about New York’s losses, but the restrictions applied to citizens in much less afflicted regions don’t need to follow the New York model forever.

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