Severe Disruption to American Life: Coronavirus, Climate Change, Trump
Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill — Mike Pence 2 March 2001 — I don’t believe effective anti-drug policy involves handing out drug paraphernalia — speaking of providing a proven effective program in the war on HIV/AIDS — Mike Pence 27 March 2015.
The political dishonesty and religious hypocrisy of Mike Pence reflects his boss’ lack of ethics — not only profaning Good Samaritan Christian tenants like, Love thy neighbor as thyself, but denying what Americans learned in the 1980s from Conservative Evangelical Christion U. S. Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, regarding smoking and HIV.
However, there’s no time for liars and hypocrites, nor panic and the pursuit of obvious villains, for unlike Coronavirus, the disruption of America as an exceptional, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave started decades before James Comey, Facebook, Russian hackers, compromised voting machines and mis-informed American voters elected Trump/Pence.
This is the time that tries the souls even of the soulless. This is a time to actually be courageous, not settling for the drool of braggadocios bullies boasting of false success, failures in judgment and slander more true of he who slings trade wars of outrageous fortune, than those who are tweet targets, like a media that may have finally recaptured enough of its lost journalistic breadcrumbs to retrace Murrow’s path of honorable, just the facts, Fourth Estate discipline and scholarship.
It is not a time to put our faith in a stock market that reflects our disunion, deceit and denial, but rather it is for us to drive the market of humanity where faith, hope and love are served and shared more freely than, truth.
It is not a time for masks, but for unmasking the idolaters at the altars of Social Media Trolls, media hyperbole and political sludge. It’s time to rise above thinking it manly to beat and cheat on wives, oppress voters of color and sexually harass daughters and mothers.
It’s time to celebrate innovation whatever gender identification, electoral preference, sexual persuasion or party affiliation, and not time for inciting instability with irrational, new hoax fabrications.
Best we relive our collective patriotism during President Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crisis response; resuscitate the amiable person to person courage that filled the streets of NYC and parking lot of Washington’s Pentagon, on 9/11, and resurrect the United We Stand response to trusted medical professionals, scientific facts and a government of, by and for the people, not only leading us out of the Great 2007–08 Recession, but having the foresight to instill institutional preparedness and an organizational structure that largely spared Americans the Ebola virus.
Time, we shake off the dust of erratic governmental practices, MIA Agency leadership substituted with, Acting stand-ins with little expertise for their appointed positions.
Stressed nationally and anxious individually from Corporatism’s dispensing Opioid addiction, government dehumanizing immigration policies and degrading political rallies of hate encouraging the downgrading of America, from respected governances and civilized world organizations — merciless timing insures, America First toxicity, temporarily, unavoidable.
No time to ignore ignorance, nor intelligence or fail to hold ourselves accountable for the consequences of placing America at the mercy of those dismantling our Democratic Republic — for neither the warmth of April showers nor prayers of self-congratulatory government executives will miraculously save America from the Coronavirus.
While in the midst of collective potential calamity, it is understandably difficult to see beyond our own individual needs: like the New Hampshire voter who assured MSNBC that, having a job and making money is what it’s all about, is missing our big picture reality.
Maybe time has passed by our, New World, for there’s nothing new about denying Climate Change, or lying to pollsters, or thinking, The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, scientific discovery and human kindness are mutually exclusive.
In the immediacy of emerging crisis, our FDA is allowing Laboratories, which it has not approved, to test for Coronavirus. While desperate times call for desperate measures, beware: allow not desperate presidential face-saving to replace end of war declarations, with domestic Marshall Law edicts.
Time, we recognize presidential purging to make room for, yes men, may be constructing an elite personal government, more loyal to his whims than our Constitution. Doesn’t such Commander-in-Chief action risk castrating his legal alliance to Congressional confirmations and rule of law, also invite divided loyalties from our uniformed protection, both military and civilian?
Timely attacks on Fort Sumter weren’t inciting moment for Civil War. Disavowing the dignity of fellow human beings was. What if Putin is nurturing an uncivil warmonger Trump more dangerous to America than any pandemic?
Maybe it’s time to consider Trump’s response to Coronavirus our rehearsal for Climate Change — meant to measure the mettle of our character, and human decency.
