No,the federal government shouldn't'take over the supply chain'for medical equipment,and yes,states can in fact govern themselves.
不，联邦政府不应该接管医疗设备的供应链，是的，各州实际上可以自己管理自己
Watching the media react to federal and state government responses to the Wuhan coronavirus over the past few days,you would think they secretly wished we had an executive branch with unlimited powers—their hatred of President Trump notwithstanding.You would also think they have only a vague idea of what federalism is and how it's supposed to work.
看着媒体在过去几天里对联邦和州政府对武汉冠状病毒的反应做出的反应，你可能会认为，他们私下里希望我们有一个拥有无限权力的行政部门——尽管他们对特朗普总统怀有仇恨。你也许会认为他们对什么是联邦制以及它应该如何运作只有一个模糊的概念。
Many reporters and pundits,for example,seem to think states are almost entirely dependent on the federal government in emergency situations like this.CNN's Jim Sciutto mused about whether the president will soon be pushing for a national curfew,seemingly unaware that the president has no power to impose such a thing.
例如，许多记者和专家似乎认为，在这样的紧急情况下，各州几乎完全依赖于联邦政府。Cnn 的吉姆·肖图沉思着总统是否会很快推行全国宵禁，似乎没有意识到总统没有权力实施这样的事情。
But governors do.New Jersey Gov.Phil Murphy on Monday stopped just short of issuing a curfew on businesses,instead signing an executive order that strongly urges all non-essential businesses to close at 8 p.m.every night.He also activated the New Jersey National Guard to help carry out his order.
但是州长们做到了。周一，新泽西州州长菲尔•墨菲(Phil Murphy)刚刚停止对企业实施宵禁，而是签署了一项行政命令，强烈敦促所有非必要企业每晚8点关门。他还启动了新泽西国民警卫队来帮助执行他的命令。
Local governments are going one step further.Portland's city manager announced an emergency curfew on Monday,shutting down restaurants,bars,clubs,movie theaters,and any other establishments where people gather.Six counties in the San Francisco Bay area announced a"shelter in place"order for all residents—a population of some 6.7 million people—to remain in effect until April 7.It wasn't exactly clear how the order would be enforced,but it did call on sheriffs and chiefs of police to"ensure compliance."
地方政府则更进一步。波特兰市市长周一宣布实行紧急宵禁，关闭了餐馆、酒吧、俱乐部、电影院和其他任何人们聚集的场所。旧金山湾区的六个县宣布了一项针对所有居民(约670万人口)的"收容所到位"命令，有效期将持续到4月7日。目前还不清楚该命令将如何执行，但它确实呼吁治安官和警察局长"确保遵守"
Similar measures have gone into effect across the country in recent days.In New Orleans,police cleared crowds on Bourbon Street,ordering people back to their homes and hotels via loudspeaker.Lockdowns of various sorts were ordered in cities from Florida to Washington state,mostly affecting bars,restaurants,and other places crowds gather.
最近几天，类似的措施已经在全国范围内生效。在新奥尔良，警察清理了波旁街上的人群，通过扩音器命令人们返回家中和酒店。从佛罗里达到华盛顿州的各个城市都下令实施了各种各样的封锁，主要影响到酒吧、餐馆和其他人群聚集的地方。
The President Isn't a King
总统不是国王
But here's the thing:the president of the United States doesn't have the power to order these things.For as much as we might think of the federal government as all-powerful,it really isn't.The founders wisely chose a federal republic for our form of government,which means sovereignty is divided between states and the federal government.
但事情是这样的:美国总统没有权力下达这样的命令。尽管我们可能认为联邦政府是全能的，但事实并非如此。开国元勋们明智地选择了一个联邦共和国作为我们的政府形式，这意味着主权在州和联邦政府之间分割。
The powers of the federal government are limited and enumerated,while all powers not granted to the feds are reserved for the states,including emergency police powers of the kind we're seeing states and localities use now.Local governments,as creations of the states,can exercise state police powers as well.
联邦政府的权力是有限和明确的，而所有没有授予联邦政府的权力是保留给各州的，包括我们现在看到的州和地方政府使用的那种紧急警察权力。地方政府作为各州的产物，也可以行使州警察的权力。
Much of the media seems wholly unaware of this basic feature of our system of government.Exemplifying the ignorance was a widely panned tweet from an editor at The Daily Beast who seemed to think states can't"govern themselves"without permission or direction from the president.
许多媒体似乎完全没有意识到我们政府体制的这一基本特征。举例来说，《每日野兽》(The Daily Beast)的一位编辑发布了一条广受批评的推文，他似乎认为，没有总统的许可或指示，各州就不能"自治"。
After the Trump administration's announcement on Monday of new,stricter guidelines to stop the spread of the virus,a media chorus arose that it wasn't enough."Ok.Someone finally talked some sense into the President two months into this.That's good.But we need huge amounts of coordinated federal*action**assistance*and*mobilization*along with the shift in rhetoric,"tweeted MSNBC's Chris Hayes.
特朗普政府周一宣布了新的、更严格的指导方针，以阻止病毒的传播。此后，媒体一致认为，这还不够。"好的。两个月来终于有人说服了总统。很好。但是我们需要大量的联邦协调行动，援助和动员，以及言辞的转变，"微软全国有线广播公司的克里斯·海斯在推特上说。
An attitude of shock and outrage pervaded The New York Times'coverage—as well as misleading tweets from some NYT editors—of a conference call in which Trump told governors that they should try to get ventilators and respirators for themselves.Many of the tweets left out the full context of what Trump said:"We will be backing you,but try getting it yourselves.Point of sales,much better,much more direct if you can get it yourself."
《纽约时报》的报道中充斥着震惊和愤怒的态度——以及《纽约时报》的一些编辑在twitter上发布的误导性信息——在一次电话会议中，特朗普告诉州长们，他们应该自己购买呼吸机和呼吸器。很多推文都没有提及特朗普的原话:"我们会支持你们，但你们自己去争取吧。"如果你自己能搞到的话，销售会更好，更直接。"
Asked about the Times report later in the day at the press conference,Trump explained that many governors might have a more direct line on this equipment and if so they should go ahead and acquire it themselves,no need to wait on Washington,D.C.
当天晚些时候在新闻发布会上被问及时报的报道时，特朗普解释说，许多州长可能对这种设备有更直接的看法，如果是这样的话，他们应该自己去购买，不必等在华盛顿特区。
This is of course exactly the way federalism is supposed to work.Besides the media not getting it,many Democrats don't seem to grasp federalism,either.A group of House Democrats on Monday urged Trump to invoke war powers to order the production of more facemasks and ventilators.New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio went on cable news and declared that the federal government needs to"take over the supply chain right now"for needed medical supplies.
这当然正是联邦制的运作方式。除了媒体没有理解，许多民主党人似乎也没有理解联邦制。周一，一群众议院民主党人敦促特朗普动用战争权力，下令生产更多的口罩和呼吸器。纽约市长比尔·德布拉西奥接受有线电视新闻采访时宣称，联邦政府需要"现在就接管供应链"，以获取所需的医疗用品。
As the coronavirus get worse,we're going to see a lot more actions being taken by cities,counties,and states—many more than we'll see from the feds,in fact.That's as it should be.We should expect the government power that's closest to affected communities to be the most active,while Washington,D.C.,concern itself with larger problems,like developing a vaccine and controlling our borders and ports of entry.
随着冠状病毒的恶化，我们将看到更多的城市、县和州采取行动——实际上比我们从联邦政府那里看到的要多得多。这是理所当然的。我们应该期望最接近受影响社区的政府权力是最活跃的，而华盛顿特区则关注更大的问题，比如开发疫苗，控制边境和入境口岸。
To put it another way,President Xi Jinping of China can order every Chinese citizen to stay in his or her home under threat of arrest.He can shutter every business in China by fiat.He can"take over the supply chain"of any industry whenever he wants.President Trump can't do any of that.You'd think Democrats and the media would be relieved about that—and they might be,if they knew the first thing about federalism.
换句话说，中国国家主席习近平可以命令每个中国公民留在自己的家中，并以被捕相威胁。他可以通过法令关闭中国的每一家企业。他可以随时"接管"任何行业的"供应链"。特朗普总统做不到这些。你可能认为民主党人和媒体会对此松一口气ーー如果他们对联邦制了如指掌的话，他们可能会松一口气。
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