Meme Monday
I guess we’re not in quarantine anymore, based on the fact that my daughter is going in to the office, and restaurants are open (25% capacity for indoor dining), so likely I waited too long to use this meme. However, who knows, at the rate we’re going, perhaps we’re going to be shut down again. This time it’s the Midwest that’s under attack from the virus, where both of my readers live, so gosh you NE Ohio people, keep being careful! I don’t actually worry about you too much, I know you’re both very sensible.
I don’t know what else to say other than why can’t we get our act together? I blame Trump for politicizing it. I think about how it could be better if both major parties had come together to put out a unified message of how to behave, and practiced what they preached. We STILL have the power to conquer this thing. If we ALL got serious and took precautions, we could be back to at least a modified normal by Christmas. Or maybe that’s a pipe dream, and it’s too late for that, I don’t know. As it is, I fear we are not going to get this thing under control until there is a vaccine that is safe and effective and widely available. Even with a different regime in office, the damage has been done.
And truthfully, our American love for individualism and ‘don’t tread on me’ politics works against us in times like these, too. That feeling of not wanting the government to tell us what to do, and even our governmental structure, 50 United States instead of one central government. It’s hard under any circumstances, but stoke those feelings and it just gets worse and worse.
I’m going to try to find hope in the upcoming election. I hope it goes well, like complete trouncing of both houses of Congress and of course the President. Please please please. And then I hope that somehow, a new government can find a way to get people united on this thing. That’s the only way it’s going to work, I fear.
4 Comments
nance
Agree, agree.
You know, the US was just like this prior to the Civil War. It was a loose confederation of individual states, each one like a rogue nation, doing its own thing. There was no sense of national unity–it didn’t really feel like one country. It was President Abraham Lincoln’s leadership and emphasis on unity and the country as a united nation–if you read his speeches, you can see it–that began to reframe the identity of the country.
45* persisted in tossing every major decision to individual states. He abdicated responsibility. He pitted states and citizens against each other. It’s like dogs fighting over a scrap of meat. There can still be Individualism and Freedom existing under the overarching Common Good.
But not with a lack of good leadership and good example. I loved what Pres. Obama said in one of his campaign speeches for VP Biden recently. He said, “You wouldn’t tolerate it from a coworker, you wouldn’t tolerate it from a high school principal, you wouldn’t tolerate it from a coach, you wouldn’t tolerate it from a family member. Why are we accepting it from the president of the United States?”
Let’s hope a lot of us don’t any more.
Ally Bean
Thanks for your concern. The cases per day are skyrocketing here because people will not wear their masks, at all or properly. It’s some kind of rugged individualism concept taken to a weird extreme.
We stay at home almost all the time. It’s tedious, but at least we’re doing our best to remain healthy until, I hope, a capable president is elected. In the meantime it’s best to avoid people as much as possible. Obviously.
OmbudsBen
C’mon, Nevada. C’mon, Arizona.
Let’s not leave it up to Pennsylvania or Georgia,
let’s just get this over with.
Then let the lawyers deal with Orange Mussolini, and whoever else needs to show him out the door of 1600 Pennsylvania avenue.
J
Absolutely! My perfect world scenario is that they all go blue, of course, making it more difficult for Trump and his thugs to steal the election.