If there's a motto for the pandemic, there are only a few choices:
We have first, the media choise: "We need more testing!"
We also have the choice of Joe Biden: "It's clearly Trump's fault that we haven't done better ..uh, uh.. fighting the ...uh, uh..you know, the thing."
Third, we have the choice of "experts": "Our models show........"
But the overall choice of the motto for the pandemic has to be "we're all in this together."
That's right: WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!!!
That motto is on at least half of the ads on TV. It is repeated by a whole host of smarmy local politicians. No matter what the congressmen or senators are pushing for, they always end with this slogan. In short, the slogan is just something that no longer has any meaning.
It's time to retire this motto. Maybe we can hold a mock burial for it and admit that many of our fellow countrymen are not in this with us. Think of Michigan governor Whitmer who told residents who wanted to go out on the lakes in their boats (where they would be far from any sources of infection) that such a move was prohibited because we're all in this together. Withing a few days, Whitmer's husband got caught calling a marina in the hope of getting his (and the governor's) boat back into the water so that they could sit out on a lake. (They're not in it with others, I guess.)
The truth is that America is not now (nor will it ever be) in this together. We all must deal with the virus, but each state, indeed each American faces unique hurdles to clear. The rancher out in the middle of nowhere in Colorado has a very different set of issues than someone living in a second story walk up in the Bronx or even in an apartment in central Denver. Nursing home residents in Florida where Governor DeSantis locked down the homes at the start of the pandemic and barred re-entry to sick patients wanting to return from the hospital while still testing positive for the virus face very different issues than residents in New York nursing homes where Governor Cuomo issued an order that the homes couldn't use the fact that a patient tested positive for the virus as a reason not to readmit the patient. Of course, many thousands of residents of those NY nursing homes died as a result of that order. The NY nursing home residents who survived the carnage that followed Cuomo's order are not "in this" with the Florida nursing home residents who were protected.
The truth is that the slogan is just another way of saying "I'm in trouble and the rest of you have to protect me." It's a variant of the liberal theology of victimism, i.e., if one is a "victim" than he or she can do no wrong and must be protected by others. The essence of American democracy, however, is quite different. Democracy teaches that we each have our own interests and the course chosen by and for the nation must be the one that satisfies the largest number of people subject to certain overarching limitations set forth in the Constitution.
So, as the sun sets in the western sky, let's bid a fond farewell to the slogan "We're all in this together". And let's hope we never see its like again.
We have first, the media choise: "We need more testing!"
We also have the choice of Joe Biden: "It's clearly Trump's fault that we haven't done better ..uh, uh.. fighting the ...uh, uh..you know, the thing."
Third, we have the choice of "experts": "Our models show........"
But the overall choice of the motto for the pandemic has to be "we're all in this together."
That's right: WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!!!
That motto is on at least half of the ads on TV. It is repeated by a whole host of smarmy local politicians. No matter what the congressmen or senators are pushing for, they always end with this slogan. In short, the slogan is just something that no longer has any meaning.
It's time to retire this motto. Maybe we can hold a mock burial for it and admit that many of our fellow countrymen are not in this with us. Think of Michigan governor Whitmer who told residents who wanted to go out on the lakes in their boats (where they would be far from any sources of infection) that such a move was prohibited because we're all in this together. Withing a few days, Whitmer's husband got caught calling a marina in the hope of getting his (and the governor's) boat back into the water so that they could sit out on a lake. (They're not in it with others, I guess.)
The truth is that America is not now (nor will it ever be) in this together. We all must deal with the virus, but each state, indeed each American faces unique hurdles to clear. The rancher out in the middle of nowhere in Colorado has a very different set of issues than someone living in a second story walk up in the Bronx or even in an apartment in central Denver. Nursing home residents in Florida where Governor DeSantis locked down the homes at the start of the pandemic and barred re-entry to sick patients wanting to return from the hospital while still testing positive for the virus face very different issues than residents in New York nursing homes where Governor Cuomo issued an order that the homes couldn't use the fact that a patient tested positive for the virus as a reason not to readmit the patient. Of course, many thousands of residents of those NY nursing homes died as a result of that order. The NY nursing home residents who survived the carnage that followed Cuomo's order are not "in this" with the Florida nursing home residents who were protected.
The truth is that the slogan is just another way of saying "I'm in trouble and the rest of you have to protect me." It's a variant of the liberal theology of victimism, i.e., if one is a "victim" than he or she can do no wrong and must be protected by others. The essence of American democracy, however, is quite different. Democracy teaches that we each have our own interests and the course chosen by and for the nation must be the one that satisfies the largest number of people subject to certain overarching limitations set forth in the Constitution.
So, as the sun sets in the western sky, let's bid a fond farewell to the slogan "We're all in this together". And let's hope we never see its like again.
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