大西洋月刊：我们生活其间的是一个治理失败的国度

科学百姓姜涛编译 2020.4.20

编者按：大西洋月刊是美国享有盛誉，排名前十的刊物，今天在网站刊登预定6月发行的一篇意见专栏。以下是开篇两段，以飨读者。

当新冠病毒驾临美洲大陆，它看到一个患有严重基础疾病的国度，于是冷酷无情地肆虐予以利用。这个国度积累了多种慢性病，长年得不到治疗，包括腐败的政治阶层、僵化的政府管理机构、没心没肺的经济、分裂和分心的公众。我们已经学会了习惯于生活在这些疾病的种种症状丛中，以致需要一个全球瘟疫的巨大规模和亲身体验，才能暴露这些疾病的严重性，才能通过震撼冲击让美国人认识到，我们的国度属于高风险的失败国度当中一个。

When the virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly. Chronic ills—a corrupt political class, a sclerotic bureaucracy, a heartless economy, a divided and distracted public—had gone untreated for years. We had learned to live, uncomfortably, with the symptoms. It took the scale and intimacy of a pandemic to expose their severity—to shock Americans with the recognition that we are in the high-risk category.

当前的瘟疫危机需要迅速、理性和集体合力的应对。而美利坚合众国的反应就像巴基斯坦或白俄罗斯，就像一个基础设施简陋、政府功能失调的国家，其领导人是如此腐败或如此愚蠢，以致无法阻止国民的大规模的苦难。政府浪费了无可挽回的两个月的时间来做准备。总统的作为则是蓄意的失明、找替罪羊推诿责任、吹牛自夸和散布形形色色的谎言。而总统的御用宣传机器喉舌则喷出种种阴谋论和神奇疗法。的确有一些参议员和公司高管迅速采取行动，但他们的行动是利用瘟疫灾难快速从股票市场赢利，而不是为了防止这个灾难的滚滚而来。当一位政府医疗专家试图警告公众即将到来的危险时，白宫把麦克风抓过来，将警报信息至于政治的扭曲控制下。

The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational, and collective. The United States reacted instead like Pakistan or Belarus—like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering. The administration squandered two irretrievable months to prepare. From the president came willful blindness, scapegoating, boasts, and lies. From his mouthpieces, conspiracy theories and miracle cures. A few senators and corporate executives acted quickly—not to prevent the coming disaster, but to profit from it. When a government doctor tried to warn the public of the danger, the White House took the mic and politicized the message.

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全文请点击参考资料链接。

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参考资料链接

1. We Are Living in a Failed State. 大西洋月刊：我们生活其间的是一个治理失败的国度. 大西洋月刊, 2020.04

2. 中文翻译：大西洋杂志丨我们生活在一个失败国家. , 2020.04