Covid, Crisis, and Cogitation

Memorial Day 

The Covid-19 pandemic is turning out to be a time of deep reflection for some of us.  As cases begin to rise in more states, the decision to simply "open up," as it is being characterized, is beginning to be questioned.

It is true there are some areas which are experiencing a relatively low case of incidence of this virus so far.  And there are other locations in which numbers continue to decline.  (Your local newspaper or trusted online source should have further information about this.) 

But for other areas such as Arkansas and West Virginia, the recent increases in cases is alarming indeed. 

My overall advice is, first -- don't panic.  But do listen carefully to the authorities, especially the health authorities in your locale and state.  I suggest erring on the side of caution as necessary, since many government leaders are understandably eager to "re-open" for business and are in the process failing to meet the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

With a sister who is an M.D. and a brother-in-law who is a physician and teacher of medical students at a state school, I am keeping up with the latest thinking as best I can.  This is a time to be calmly cautious and soberly judicious in one's actions.  This is all the more true in a time when rather large numbers of our fellow citizens seem not to understand the gravity of the situation, or even the basic facts. 

This Developing Life

Note to Readers:

The quantity of material available to an advocacy blogger these days is enormous.  And as time goes on, needs change both for readers and bloggers.

It happens that I have recently pre-filed to stand as a candidate for a political convention.  While this may or may not develop into a major time commitment, it does mean I have to prepare for a new role.

Since the election is still a little ways away, I will take the time to let you know how deeply frustrating the national picture in America is or can be.  If you are a regular reader you are well aware of the many challenges we face in the United States with a President who represents powerful monied interests in a way we have never really seen before.  Even the President himself is a wealthy dude.

The only good news is that Americans are finally beginning to wake up to the danger facing our democracy.  But with a media which is itself a very lucrative business, it is hard for the truth to get through.  And you can imagine, in a country as large and diverse as ours, what a problem this creates in and of itself.  For when the people don't get the clear and complete picture of what is really happening, it becomes next-to-impossible for them to react and act appropriately.

Fortunately, the feeling now is beginning to take hold:  something is very wrong, and not just with the danger of coronavirus, but with the economy.  If we can make clear to people that the problem with the economy is foundational, not just symptomatic, we will have taken a very large step forward. 

Standing Up for the Electoral College

Rush Link --

There is hardly anything in the Constitution harder to explain, or easier to misunderstand, than the Electoral College. And when a presidential election hands the palm to a candidate who comes in second in the popular vote but first in the Electoral College tally, something deep in our democratic viscera balks and asks why the Electoral College shouldn’t be dumped as a useless relic of 18th century white, gentry privilege. Actually, there have been only five occasions when a closely divided popular vote and the electoral vote have failed to point in the same direction. No matter. After last week’s results [the 2016 Presidential election], we’re hearing a litany of complaints: the Electoral College is undemocratic, the Electoral College is unnecessary, the Electoral College was invented to protect slavery — and the demand to push it down the memory hole. 

                                                                              -- excerpt from Gettysburg College paper


 And from time to time here I, too, have had occasion to stand up for the Electoral College as being something not to toss in the waste bin of history.  Having read about the Electoral College over the years it has seemed to me appropriate and necessary to defend something which sprang from good intentions.  The truth of the matter is the Electoral College has not functioned as envisioned since early in our nation's history.  However, the answer is not to eviscerate it further or to abolish it.

Please join me in perusing the document linked to below.  




In Defense of the Electoral College

Putting People First

"We have to put people before profits."

                                                                          -- Oakland, California mayor Libby Schaaf

"Putting people first."   This was one of the campaign slogans of Bill Clinton in the 1992 race for the Presidency.  Once in office, President Clinton found out just what kind of obstacle he was up against:   this was simply not how it was done in America, and he was told this by the powerful Wall Street interests who could back up any threat to pull the rug on the American people.

But here we are twenty-eight years later, and the same idea is being put forth by an American mayor of an important city.  I believe history will look back on this time as the beginning of the end of the profit system.  Such a big change will not happen all at once.  But, for now, it is refreshing to here such a statement from a U.S. mayor.


Source:  CNN, today

New Projections Have Merit

Quickly —

New projections have merit say experts.  The physicians I know are very concerned.

We need herd immunity.

What about unified and informed herd mentality?


More soon