<"Race Against Time":
Take I"/The Reckoner>
<i.>
This weekend, America passed a dubious milestone, as comedian Trevor Noah noted on his program, "The Daily Show" (which he's hosting from his New York home, as "The Daily Social Distancing Show"). It's been seven months since the COVID-19 bomb dropped worldwide, with the most hideous consequences happening here, thanks to...well, you know who. President Whatshisname. The less I have to drop it, the better, right?
As I write, I'm seeing 8,081,489 cases (including 53,157 new cases), 386,726 new cases, and 218,511 deaths (including 593 new deaths), according to the Centers for Disease Control's tracker (see link below). Here in Michigan, we've got 159,119 total cases, 9.655 new cases in the last seven days, and 7,317 deaths (including 98 new reports). Staggering numbers, by any measure, and about to get much, much worse -- or 389,087 deaths by February, according to the World Bank's projections.
I date my seven-month starting point to March 16, when one of the local papers put all their correspondents on hold. I was writing a preview story for an orchestral concert, until the conductor emailed to say it had gotten canceled. Right then, the features editor emailed: "Hey, about that preview story? We don't need it after all."
I laughed aloud. What else could you do? If you believed in signs from beyond, that seemed like a good one. My other transcription and writing work also dropped off, too. Though it didn't disappear, I had to make some adjustments (find a new outlet or two here, bring back an older one there) until the situation stabilized.
How do things feel now? Mixed, to put it mildly. The promise of a vaccine, and the normalcy it might bring, seems a long way off. Most people in our town still seem to follow the rules, though I'm having anxious moments, like the one I experienced at the dollar store tonight. I went to grab some nuts for the wife, some fudge crackers for myself, and what do I see?
A security guard struggling to hold a white towel over his face. Not a N95, nor a surgical mask, but a towel. Looking at him made me downright queasy. "Are you f#cking kidding me?" I asked myself.
I also saw an older woman, holding an arm over her face, as she waited in line and struggled to count, with her free hand, what looked like a half-inch thick wad of bills. At any rate, I tried to keep my social distance, and then some. Especially from the guard, who -- for reasons that only he knew -- kept shuffling closer and closer to me.
Every time he stepped forward, I stepped back. No Jimmy Page/Robert Plant-style onstage bonding moments for this encounter! He's over here, so I'm over there.
I grabbed my stuff, and got the hell out of there. My wife assured me I'll be okay, since I was wearing an N95 mask. But the whole episode unnerved me, coming as yet another reminder that, even after all the endless media messaging, some people would rather cross their fingers, and roll the dice, as they tell themselves, "I've always been lucky so far." Time will tell how that works out for them.
<"Race Against Time,"
Take II"/The Reckoner>
<ii.>
Two more things go without saying. For one, It didn't have to be this way. For another, we wouldn't have failed so calamitously, if the empty suits had given even half a shit. From my perspective, COVID-19 simply exposed the two Americas we've seen for decades: the one for the investor class, and the one for everybody else.
Unfortunately, one system works way, way better, as Trump has already proven with the New York Times's revelations about his Wild West-style business methods. The six bankruptcies that he racked up on his ascent to the White House in 2016 are the best illustration we have of failure always falling upwards.
That brings me to another point. How do we navigate social crises like a global pandemic? Leadership that starts with facing problems, instead of playing this "don't ask, don't tell" game that brought us here in the first place. Just saying that, though, won't make you popular in anybody's corridors of power.
Supporters of Bernie Sanders's insurgent candidacy in the 2016 and 2020 learned that lesson the hard way, as the Democratic establishment rallied to shut him out, simply for saying what seemed so obvious, then and now: "The system isn't working for us, and it'll take more than mere baby steps to fix it."
I learned that lesson the hard way on Facebook last week, amid a discussion of how the Democrats should respond, if they sweep the House, Senate and the Presidency. I pointed out that would depend on whether the Democrats earn a 51-49 or 55-45 Senate majority, among other factors. The pushback didn't take long. Two people sniping at me as a "glass half empty kind of pessimist," who's "the guy at the party warning people that the punch is spiked with alcohol."
Round and round this thread of higher (or lower) nonsense went, right up to 23 replies. The whole experience left me thinking, "Is this why I spent hours scanning record store racks?" I don't think so. Nobody defended me there, either. So much for the "social" aspect of social media. Good thing I wasn't at the OK Corral that day, or I wouldn't have made it home, I guess.
I should have known better, because we're talking about yet overweening product of an overweening industry grown waaay too big for its proverbial britches. But there's no law that says I have to hang out there 24-7, either. For now, I'm sharply reducing my presence there. That seems like the only sane response when people go out of their way to confirm all the worst notions you already entertain. It's too bad, but like the man said...it is what it is.
<"Race Against Time,"
Take III"/The Reckoner>
<iii.>
But here's the rub. Name calling doesn't make inconvenient facts go away. Neither does wishful thinking. And neither does making meaningless gestures, as Maryland's Republican Governor, Larry Hogan, demonstrated, when he proudly announced that he'd cast a write-in ballot, of all things -- for Ronald Reagan.
Again, I find myself saying, "Are you f#cking kidding me?" The Gipper breathed his last in 2004, so unless Hogan's planning a seance to call him back, what's the point? Oh, wait. He's making a statement about our current malaise. Fine, except the dumpster fire called the Trump presidency is still burning ever brighter, ever fiercer, ever hotter.
Right now, the race isn't the Gipper versus Trump, or Biden. It'll be either Trump, or Biden, so I'm voting whoever will stomp the fire out, simple as that. Ignoring that reality is committing civic malpractice. On that level, I'd have to call Hogan...well, I'll let you fill in the blank (expletives are optional).
Most crucially of all, playing "don't ask, don't tell" also doesn't make inconvenient facts go away, either. That point struck me reading about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's landslide victory this weekend, in which her party (Labour) claimed 64 of 120 seats in Parliament, and its largest popular vote share in 70 years (49 percent).
However, amid the article's celebration of Ardern's leadership skill during the pandemic, I can't help but spot a snake or two popping up in that bipartisan Garden of Eden, starting with this fact: "Labour said it will impose a 39% tax on income over NZ $180,000 ($119,000 US) to help pay for the Covid response and keep debt under control." The second is the writer's note that Ardern "has ruled out significant tax reforms to address wealth inequality, and given no indication since her victory that she intends to be more proactive on issues like poverty and homelessness."
However, amid the article's celebration of Ardern's leadership skill during the pandemic, I can't help but spot a snake or two popping up in that bipartisan Garden of Eden, starting with this fact: "Labour said it will impose a 39% tax on income over NZ $180,000 ($119,000 US) to help pay for the Covid response and keep debt under control." The second is the writer's note that Ardern "has ruled out significant tax reforms to address wealth inequality, and given no indication since her victory that she intends to be more proactive on issues like poverty and homelessness."
I don't know enough about New Zealand's problems in those areas to comment, but I really hope that Ardern resists taking the "don't ask, don't tell" route. Do you really care how well the stock market's doing, if you've lost your house, or your health insurance?
As FDR so famously observed in 1940, when your neighbor's house is on fire, you don't say: "Neighbor, my garden house cost me $15; you have to pay me $15 for it. ...I don't want $15 -- I want my garden hose back after the fire is over."
Honestly, how much does it actually cost, over the long run, to look out for our neighbor? That's what the Jacinda Arderns should ask themselves right now. And surely, so should we.
Otherwise, we may just grease the skids for another Trumpian wannabe, who really knows how to work the levers of power to achieve his El Presidente aspirations, one who'll make us long for the good old days of 2016, when that billionaire reality TV star just seemed like another buffoon on the make, another empty suit who'd never claw his way across the finish line. We all know how well that movie turned out. -- The Reckoner
Links To Go (Just Follow
Those Rising Numbers):
Bloomberg
Ardern's Stunning Election Victory
Holds Lessons For US:
Centers For Disease Control
Coronavirus Tracker:
Centers For Disease Control
COVID-19 Forecasts: Deaths:
Institute For Health Metrics and Evaluation
World Health Organization
COVID-19 Dashboard:
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