Playing Hardball in Government and Politics

From the perspective of American History, the Covid-19 Crisis has presented America with an unprecedented public health problem and an unprecedented Economic and Political challenge. By that I mean if the political authorities and the public health authorities fail to meet this crisis properly, untold economic and political damage will ensue and it is hard to enumerate what they may be.   Let us unpack these general statements. We begin with the words of Alexander Hamilton in the First Federalist Paper:

It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.

… Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, un-perplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected. The plan offered to our deliberations affects too many particular interests, innovates upon too many local institutions, not to involve in its discussion a variety of objects foreign to its merits, and of views, passions and prejudices little favorable to the discovery of truth.

GP: Of course Hamilton was advocating the approval of the new Federal Constitution by the thirteen states -this in 1787. But his words still ring true.  In this regard we make the following points:

1. The Medical Authorities (CDC, NIH, and FDA) are unable to suggest or take immediate action to alleviate the death toll from Covid-19 .  There is no medical protocol or procedures do deal with patients with symptoms in a doctor’s office or in a clinical setting.
2. The procedures recommended was the same protocol that was administered 60 years ago – steam from a vaporizer and hot liquids.
3. The ideal of a double blind study is the Gold Standard for resolution and discovery of a treatment. Never mind that there are immoral implications here – for if 50% of the group is the control group,they are certainly in danger of dying  while the study group is administered the experimental drug or procedure.
4. Any double blind study cannot resolve itself nor come to a successful conclusion without the passage of three months or six months. In that amount of time, untold numbers of people will unfortunately die because of lack of treatment.
5. The response of the Government and our Congressional leaders to this conundrum is to throw billions of dollars at this – to buy or manufacture ventilators and masks and any other medical equipment that might be needed for the situation.Hence the government of the United States has to devaluate the currency since readily available funds for this are non-existent. Electronic printing of money is the only solution. This can lead to disastrous results as we know from the experience of the Weimar Republic in the late 1920’s.
6. It is known that if someone unfortunately goes on to a respirator, he has only a 50% chance to survive – and survival comes with probable brain damage and mental dysfunction.
7. There is an unknown doctor in a small town in upstate New York who came up with a temporary solution -which was simply a procedure to keep patients who are high risk out of the hospital. That would alleviate the need for hospital beds, ventilators, and medical staff.
8. This would alleviate the need to inflate the currency and add to the National Debt, which is already too large.It also would save people’s lives.
9. Dr. Zelenko’s data are being sent to the CDC and NIH as well as to leading medical experts in Universities and Hospitals both in the United States and around the world. And a major double-blind study is underway to comply with official requirements for proof of efficacy.
10. The arguments against Dr. Zelenko’s procedure center around two issues: It is thought that Hydroxychloroquine   causes heart problems, especially with people with a history of heart problems.  Secondly, there is a possible conflict between Zinc and Azithromycin, two of the three part medical cocktail that Dr. Zelenko is administering.
11. To-date, Dr. Zelenko has not reported any difficulties with these issues. It is probably because the dosage of Hydroxychloroquine administered is low and is only for a five day period. Moreover, the Brazilian study which was discontinued because of severe medical problems in the patients, used 600 mg of Chloroquine-Phosphate twice daily for the first 10 days. It is well known that Chloroquine is more powerful than Hydroxychloroquine which Dr. Zelenko used. It was likely to cause heart arrhythmia which is what happened. Dr.Zelenko’s dose was 250 mg twice daily for five days and Hydroxychloroquine is not that potent in terms of heart arrhythmia.   Further, Zinc was not part of the Brazilian protocol.
12. It is a disgrace that the media be allowed to obfuscate these radical differences.
13. To paraphrase Alexander Hamilton, as quoted above, the United States government must decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend … on accident and force.
14. If one follows the thousands of hours of chatter on the news, on any of the public broadcasting channels , one is dismayed as to how these central issues outlined above are ignored or obfuscated by the media and government officials, including members of Congress.
15. Dr. Zelenko’s procedure using the triple cocktail of Hydroxychloroquine, Zinc , and Azithromycin works . It should be deployed in thousands of  doctor’s offices and clinics until some bad result ensues and is reported. Certainly that is the better choice than allowing the hospitals to be overwhelmed and medical staff themselves endangered by contact with their patients.
16. Dr. Zelenko is working on a milder form of his tri-partite cocktail to be given to all First Responders and  medical personnel as a prophylactic or preventative to them contracting the virus.
17. If the antibiotic administered does not combine with the Zinc well, then the antibiotic should be removed from the cocktail. In South Korea they are only using Zinc and Hydroxychloroquine.
18. The idea of a double-blind six month study of any disease should be re-evaluated in situations where human lives are at stake. Rather, the procedure should be a “learn as you go” type of thing – learning from too little of this and too much of that. It must be on the job experience.
19. Dr. Zelenko is expecting a great deal of news in coming weeks from scientific studies – from Long Island, Brazil, and France. It would seem that South Korea has already found this solution and is using it.
20. To date, Dr. Zelenko’s protocol would save thousands if not millions of lives and keep the United States economy from sinking into a hopeless depression.
21. Without this protocol instituted, it is clear that as social distancing measures are removed and people return to work, the virus will experience a resurgence of unknown ferocity.