The looming disaster

May 8, 2021

     Just over one week past the 100 day mark of Biden’s presidency, we are beset by a pervasive sense of unease.  Progress seems unmistakable. The country administered 200 million doses of the COVID vaccine just shy of Biden’s 100th day, (Source:  “Biden Says Goal of 200 Million COVID-19 Vaccinations in 100 Days Has Been Met,” by Brian Naylor, NPR.org, 4/21/21). The number of new infections is decreasing, as is the number of deaths, (Source: CDC.gov).  New York and New Jersey are re-opening on May 19th.  California, where new infections in L.A. and Sacramento have dropped precipitously, but remain stubbornly high in the Central Valley, is opening up on June 15th, (Source:  “California Reaches More Re-Opening Milestones,” by Jill Cowan, The New York Times, 5/5/21).

     Yet, the pace of new vaccinations is slowing as our expanding supply of doses meets the resistance of those duped by right wing propaganda.  About 40% of Republicans flatly say that they will never get vaccinated.  Given the continued emergence of more contagious variants, this makes our ability to reach herd immunity unlikely, endangering us all, (Source:  “Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe,” by Apoorva Mandivilli,The New York Times, 5/3/21).

     We are justifiably relieved to have a president who believes that government should serve the people.  That belief is reflected in policies that will not only rebuild our crumbling physical infrastructure, but build an infrastructure of care that supports our children and our elders, (Source: “Biden’s plan to make America less terrible for parents,” by Anna North, Vox.com, 5/5/21).  Yet, an entire political party stands staunchly opposed to any policies that help people.  Ghoulish minority leader Mitch McConnell announced that Biden’s Infrastructure package would not get a single Republican vote. This past week, McConnell went further, repeating his Obama era mantra and declaring that he was “100% focused on stopping” Biden’s agenda, (Source:  “McConnell says he’s ‘100% focused on stopping’ Biden’s administration,” by Allan Smith, NBCNews.com, 5/5/21).

      Manchin’s and Sinema’s refusal to support H.R.1, D.C. statehood, or even reform of the filibuster in the face of this belligerent intransigence, makes them complicit in the Republican Party’s attack on democracy and open embrace of white nationalism.

     This week we saw the reunion of four families who had been separated at the border as a result of Trump’s sadistic family separation policy.  The tear-soaked reunions were heartwarming, but four families is a drop in the bucket when as many as 1000 children remain separated from their parents, (Source:  “U.S. to begin reuniting migrant families separated under ‘cruel’ Trump policy,” by Kevin Sieff and Adam Taylor, The Washington Post,  5/3/21).

     We see this pattern replicated across every sector of American life.  On one side are a Democratic administration and members of Congress earnestly trying to improve American lives and repair the wreckage of the last four years.  On the other, a group of unhinged white nationalists, unmoored from facts or truth, gleefully torch the Constitution.  They are motivated, above all,  by a desire to persecute BIPOC and LGBTQ Americans, reduce women to “breeders” with no bodily autonomy and disenfranchise Democrats, regardless of their race or gender identity. In state after state, Republicans are passing laws that will return us to the Jim Crow era.  So far, the Justice Department has not intervened.

     It’s no wonder we feel a sense of looming disaster.  One party has declared war on America.  If we want to save our country, we will all have to enlist.