Thoughts too short to make up a whole diary.
Getting Everyone Vaccinated
The polls still clearly show there is a large percentage of people who do not wish to get vaccinated for COVID, large enough to keep us from reaching herd immunity. This allows the virus to continue circulating and mutating until it figures out how to beat the vaccine.
What can we do about that? Funny you should ask. Civilization has all the tools it needs to push us into herd immunity. It is called social pressure, the kind that formed civilization in the first place.
545,000 people have died so far. If we get to the end of May and there are still so many vaccine scofflaws that herd immunity cannot be reached, then, do not patronize any business whose employees and owner are not fully vaccinated. Business owners, do not continue to employ anyone who refuses to be vaccinated. Light up Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok with these marching orders.
Individuals will still have the right to NOT get vaccinated. They also have the right to go out of business or be permanently unemployable. The choice is theirs. In parenting, this is called tough love.
Voter ID
The new Covid Relief Bill is supported by more than 70% of Americans. To my surprise, an equal portion of us supports Voter ID laws. More Republicans favor Voter ID than Democrats, of course. What a great opportunity to be bipartisan. Craft a bill requiring Voter ID provided at no cost to voters. Also include provisions to address automatic voter registration, vote by mail, campaign financing, gerrymandering, election security, ethics for federal officeholders, etc.
Wait! Aren’t all those additional provisions already in the For the People Act? They are indeed! Why not just amend the act with a completely funded Voter ID provision. How many Republicans do you suppose will vote for it then?
Thanking Trump for Operation Warp Speed
Fox News has been ablaze with calls for President Biden to publicly thank Trump for Operation Warp Speed. Trump should be thanked… as many times and in the same manner as he thanked President Obama. One “Thank you” for one “Thank you”.
For example, Trump thanked Obama for a smooth transition. President Biden did likewise with Trump. Trump thanked Obama for leaving 142 judgeships unfilled. In return Biden could thank Trump for not overthrowing the government of the United States. He should only get one ‘thank you’ for each time he thanked Obama. No more, no less. Verification required.
I bet Jen Psaki would love to offer this up at her next press conference.
Seriously Thanking Trump
If our democracy survives the next four years without a hot Civil War and we are not stupid enough to reelect that would-be dictator (or someone like him), we will owe Donald Trump a great deal of thanks. After all, he is the one who turned over the boulder that has publicly revealed all the corruption, decay, racism, and seething rage beneath America’s polished surface.
Without him as a catalyst would we ever have faced all those ugly things publicly, together, and decided to do something about it? Just think about how much further we could kick that can down the road while looking the other way. Perhaps, far enough to end America as we know it forever.
The Filibuster
There are not enough votes in the Senate to do away with the filibuster entirely. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who is against ditching the filibuster, wants to revert the procedure to actually having to talk against bringing a bill to a vote until you stop or drop. I personally don’t think that will fix anything because it will still take 60 votes to produce cloture (cut off debate on the bill). Karen Tumult has a better idea, in her Op-ed “Want to fix the filibuster? All it takes is guts” (Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, 3/19/21). She proposes the filibuster be returned to its roots. Not only does someone have to talk for hours and hours, but all Senators must be present for the occasion, not off fundraising or doing other business. She sites that previous leaders of the Senate had Senators arrested for not showing up. They could be again. If they all have to be present, the talking marathon will get on everyone’s nerves and force a vote. Mandatory attendance can be done by Senate Majority Leader Schumer without changing the Senate rules at all, but does he have the guts?
Riding the Wave
With the Civil Rights Act, the National Organization of Women, protests and violence of the late 60’s and early 70’s, it looked like racism was on the wane and women were on the rise. The gains women and blacks made, however, turned out to be little more than tokens. In the interim some gains remained. Others were undermined. Others quashed altogether. Black or female CEO’s and corporate board members have increased little since then. Unions were gutted by Reagan and others. The worker rights of Roosevelt’s New Deal were rolled back. The middle class got hollowed out, the result of embracing Neo Liberal Economics. Women were marginalized, racism quietly rose. Economic inequality grew to its greatest extent. We did elect a black President but the backlash to that resulted in the last 4 years.
This time seems different. There is great hope that substantial strides toward equality may be in the offing. It is time for all of us to paddle out and catch the wave. See you on the shore!