I'm starting to feel a glimmer of hope for the first time in 3.5 years, and especially the last 4 months. I'm not hopeful that no one I know will be touched by this virus. With the self-centeredness of every other person in the US, that's just wishful thinking.
I'm not hopeful that people will lose their congitive dissonance amid the pandemic - great article that sheds light on what makes reasonable folks shake their heads...
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/role-cognitive-dissonance-pandemic/614074/
I'm not even hopeful that my small goals of keeping mind, body and spirit in some semblance of shape over the rest of the course of this quarantine time will prevail. I'm hopeful that with time, effort and dedication we'll be able to flip the House and Senate and oust 45 for someone who has a clue how to function within the structure of government. Can you think of 1 good thing that has occurred since 2016? He donated his salary, we got what we paid for in that sense. He expanded VA health coverage. Then tried to eliminate coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and children. He took a stand on immigration... now, we couldn't pay anyone to immigrate to the US and the birth rate is falling. Other countries make up for that with the richness of cultural immigration - new experiences, new businesses, new educational opportunities.
Flint MI still has crappy water, homelessness and mental health issues are not a new thing. Unemployment is at an all time high and those on furlough can't obtain new jobs or risk losing the tenure and benefits built up over years of service. The cost of living keeps increasing even while the majority of the population is out of work or overworked as essential employees. Those that have, have more and those that have not, have even less. In the 3.5 years since 45 took office, we've paid more taxes - not less. The tax laws that used to give us a break for supporting social service agencies were removed, and with it the incentive to donate and support those resources. It's not like the government is going to fully fund those resources any time soon. The cost to the US for the aid provided through the pandemic is between $5-$8 TRILLION dollars. Money we didn't have for homeless programs, or elder care or food banks or mental health resources but to keep the economy alive, of course there is money to be had.
With the targeted maligning of Democratic run states getting second rate services and PPE and now getting federal agents to "help restore order" when help hasn't been requested and citizens are being abducted and attacked - we used to watch this kind of stuff on World News Tonight in the Middle East and think, wow, glad we have freedom and protection from that kind of anarchy. When your own government is responsible for the anarchy?!?!?
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