The United States of Keep Away from Me.

Social distancing of people is hard and unfamiliar. Social distancing of ideas is old and too familiar.  

These are times of change. We can own and master the change or try to keep it away.

As if we did not have enough problems with our country’s polarization, dis-empathy, propaganda and animosity all running at all-time highs, along comes the Corona Virus.

We are subject to so many variables and unknowns that the outcome, much less any inherent changes in society and culture are still beyond prediction.

There are all kinds of wishful conversations online and in media about how the pandemic will bring us together. Examining history, like 9/11, this is not guaranteed. Sometimes these events bring us closer to those close to us, but these events can also feed xenophobia, fear and paranoia. Driving many apart.  Triggering unanticipated consequences, schisms and conflicts.

In an effort to stay engaged, some families have pushed the lockdown as a great opportunity for family game night. This sounds like a great idea. Once instituted though, it quickly brings with it the unremembered. Part of board games night is the discussion and interaction which takes place between each player’s turns.  This could go badly, especially if people had not realized that family discussions are rarely restricted to the safe topics like weather and health.  Playing games also may involve arguments and losing in both the game and argument. Think of Marshall Law lockdown being declared in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner!

Of course, President Trump has done nothing to mitigate the social downside of current events. Cheerleading and leadership are two different things.  He has not visited any of the epicenter hospitals or any of the Asian communities to offer direct support or calm any of the misinformation percolating up through society. These potentially small gestures can have great impact. All his gestures were reserved for large corporations and expressions of condolences for the rich, famous or politically advantageous.

Yes, Trump is in the high-risk category with age and who knows what underlying conditions, but his job requires the welfare of the country comes first. That is why it is called Public Service. If anyone thinks otherwise, they can consider the careers or JFK, Harvey Milk or even Mother Theresa. This is not a job where you come first, especially at a time of crisis.

So here we are.

Regardless of who is to blame, we must find our way out. It is increasingly obvious that the path forward is up to us. There are too few real leaders in government and far too much partisan brinkmanship for anything of real use come from government. Not where the welfare of real people is concerned. This seems to be a fact regardless who sits in the oval office.

It is in our best interests to examine future public policy molded without government participation. Maybe we can put together a few useful, workable ideas. Then we can explain it to government using simple words. Perhaps demonstrate that, although they cannot find even the most basic common ground, we can.

Any effort to applying the social, economic and political lessons we have learned will need to be led by voices of change. Except we are terrible with change. At every watershed period of history there have been ardent opponents of change; the Revolutionary War, Civil War, Women’s voting rights, desegregation, equal rights.  Today we still have people opposing each of those advances and seeking to turn the clock back long after their issue has expired. These same opponents of adaptation also oppose every other new social issue. Any new change moves their beloved old issue further into history.

Nothing represents a potential break with the past like what post-pandemic America could look like. Human interaction, social and economic safety nets, the true price of societal division and the need for great empowerment and better communication for everyone may change us for the good. But those who oppose change will be fearful and withdraw and obstruct.

We will not all always agree with everybody’s idea of what represents good change. However, we need to hear and understand the ideas of what changes are possible before we decide. After all this, the United States may not be the same. Unavoidably, the way we live in it and manage it cannot stay the same. Even before the Corona virus this was not the country created by the fathers of the Constitution. It is something much more. Change is natural and indeed inevitable.