Thursday, April 09, 2020
Political Mayhem Thursday: One and only issue
I wrote to a friend recently about making a behind-the-scenes movement to promote clemency reform. "Forget it," the friend told me, "the only issue right now is coronavirus."
It's true, of course, and that is probably as it should be. Our government can't walk and chew gum at the same time; usually, it does neither. And the pandemic is a genuine emergency.
That does mean that shoved into the background are all of the issues that a responsible government would have been dealing with all along (but this one hasn't): climate change, the exploding national debt, failing infrastructure, criminal law reform, the lack of a health care strategy, catnip legalization, etc. etc. etc.
And, when we are kind of back on our feet and back at work, the economy staggering, some of these issues will become even more urgent.
To deal with them, we will need some measure of bipartisanship. Unfortunately, the kind of bipartisanship that is usually forged in a crisis is not showing up much this time. The price for that continuing antagonism may be dear.
Comments:
<< Home
Sadly, there is movement regarding climate change (in the wrong direction) as the administration lowers CAFE standards and buoys the oil industry by trying to max out the strategic oil reserve. At the State level, we’re seeing lobbyists fight plastic bag taxes by claiming that plastic bags protect us from COVID19. Ugh!
Post a Comment
<< Home
