It seems almost quaint:
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| Ask not. Bear any burden. Torch passed. |
"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
JFK, 1961
The virus crisis gives Democrats an opportunity to bridge the gap between young and old, between Sanders and Biden.
We understood our current era of Trump. Patriotism was for saps. It's a dog eat dog world.
Donald Trump bragged that he didn't pay federal taxes. "That makes me smart," he said. It wasn't really shocking. He understood the bankruptcy law, he had accountants to find the tax loopholes, and everything he did was probably--arguably--completely legal.
Trump was reflecting a pendulum swing in the mood of Americans. The bipartisan consensus on international cooperation on climate, on trade, on shared defense burden, on multinational organizations generally had carried the worry that America was being taken advantage of. Donald Trump voiced it. He tied it to a growing resentment and fear of immigration and won the presidency with that message.
Trump addressed the UN: Look our for yourselves. America is. "The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots. The future belongs to sovereign and independent nations who protect their citizens, respect their neighbors and honor the differences that make each country special and unique."
Patriotism is taking care of number one. The reality of the world isn't cooperation; it is competition.
At a policy level, you want health care? You want college? You want day care? Don't confuse this for a socialist country. Pay for it yourself. Don't come sneaking into our country and then expect to be treated as a welcome guest. That was the mood in the country, solidly in place in the GOP Senate and at the White House, on Fox News, on talk radio.
The ads were already out: Democrats are socialists!
The ads were already out: Democrats are socialists!
And then comes the coronavirus, a stock market crash, talk of 20% unemployment, and whole industries collapsing.
New story: Beginning four days ago a different mindset emerged among Trump and Republicans. Gone was the tone of dismissing the virus. Fox News went from scoffing at Democrats to telling people to shelter in place. Devin Nunes was slow to get the memo, telling people they should go out to the pub to enjoy St. Patrick's day. He deleted that tweet.
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Amid talk of trillion dollar bailouts for industries in crisis, the new message is telling young people to quit partying and tinder-swiping and attending college and going to restaurants and bars and to spring break. Why? To protect all Americans, but primarily other Americans, those vulnerable seniors, people over age seventy, people with pre-existing conditions. You healthy college students aren't in much danger yourself, but your behavior spreads the virus to others. Do it for others.
Lose your restaurant job. Lose your retail clerk job. Unemployment claims in Ohio jumped from 6,500 for the week to 78,000. The overload was so great in New York, New Jersey, and Oregon that the computers went down.
It is painful but young Americans owe it to the older generation who overwhelmingly support keeping their own Medicare, but oppose Obamacare and expanding Medicare to include the young. Protect those older Americans who vote overwhelmingly for Trump or Biden, those people who think Bernie Sanders is a menace, with his philosophy of common interests.
A crisis creates an opportunity. Republicans are sounding like socialists this week. Let's spend a trillion dollars, they say, and do "whatever it takes." They are willing to suspend the rules of normal. There is open talk of "helicopter money," a thousand dollars given to every American, and also multi-billion dollar bailouts to industries in need. In the crisis, forget self-reliance and tough love. Patriotism is sharing and bailouts.
We will borrow that trillion from you young people, just add it to the tab.
Democrats have an opportunity to make a bridge between Biden and Sanders. Young people in America have a problem, one no less acute than the one experienced by Boeing, United Airlines, and Hilton Hotels.
The question is whether Democrats can use this crisis to prove to young Sanders supporters that Democrats have their backs after all. If America can suspend the rules to save Boeing, United Airlines, and their shareholders, can we suspend the rules to allow young people to get affordable health care?
Democrats have a chance to make a statement here.
2 comments:
The stock market run up since 2016 defied logic and common sense. There was no underlying economic rationale and now the "greater fool" theory has run its course and hedge funds have skimmed billions from investors who believed the hype from Wall Street and the White House. They are called bubbles because just like a soap bubble they are fragile and will burst with the slightest pressure. At best markets will retreat to 2016 levels, but with the added stress of the epidemic no one can predict the long term effects.
How can Americans trust the Republican party from here on? Their "philosophy" has crumbled in the face of reality and its cynicism and hypocrisy is now shown for the fraud it is. "The Market" will not defeat this virus.
Young people, and other non-voters, have found it easier to believe Regressive propaganda than to inform themselves and think through the consequences of the "every man for himself" attitude.
If at no other time we need to realize that we are all in this together...it's called civilization, dummy!
Ironically, the net effect of the response to the epidemic will be Social Security and Medicare for all, but what a price to pay for a society to realize what really matters.
Trump is nothing but a great marketer. He is using an idea brought to the floor by Democrats (Yang, Tulsi, AOC), and the one Republican who goes against Trump (Romney), to distract the American people from the fact that he just spent the last couple of weeks slowing down and weakening the Coronavirus aide bill that he finally just signed with his weakening amendments. If Democrats had their way this bill would have comprehensively covered individuals whose jobs have been affected by the pandemic. Instead, because of Trump and his merry band of self-proclaimed do-gooders, stealing from the poor and giving to the rich, have postponed any real help and are trying to mask their next give a way to big corporations with a direct payout (or payoff) to individuals.
I supported an instant payout to individuals, but the whole idea is that it would come fast and before we could get any other help to people through normal methods that require paperwork and red tape. Then, we would have followed up comprehensive expansion of unemployment to help those displaced from their jobs for the long haul. Instead, what we got was, Trump and the Republicans dragging their feet to pass a limited unemployment and family leave bill, and simply floating the idea of direct payments to individuals sometime in late May or April.
It will be too little, too late to save a lot of people from suffering. This is serious. People could lose the roof over their head. The economy will likely crash big time if we do not take swift, comprehensive action.
Swift, comprehensive action is what the Democrat leaders are working for. They are simply saying that one or two instant payments are not enough to save people and save our economy. They rightfully point out that the pandemic could last months, if not a year or more, and the affects will definitely be felt for some time after. Not that they were against any quick payment to all, but that it isn’t enough. A magic bullet will not fix this. Real, nuanced leadership will.
But, it doesn’t matter. Trump is a master marketer. He is selling this like nobody’s business. I wouldn’t be surprised if he backs out on the payments and provides no real unemployment expansion, and blames it on the Democrats. People will likely believe it. Either way, hold on people. We are in for a fight for real life-saving financial relief; and the perception of who brought the people that relief could likely determine who presides over us for the next four years. Democrats, progressives and the like better unite for this fight.
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