Things To Be Thankful For?
By Hank Silverberg
Thanksgiving is upon us. The holiday has always been family-centric. This year with the pandemic raging practically out of control, many of us should be staying home with our immediate family to prevent community spread. If you are traveling you risk spreading Covid-19 and infecting your friends and loved ones. There are people out there who just don't follow the science behind this. That is what may be partially fueling the new wave of infection, which is sickening and killing people at an alarming rate in 49 of the 50 states.
With all that has happened in 2020, the question is, IS there anything to be thankful for? More than 250,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 and the economy has tanked as a result of shutdowns and other Covid-related inaction. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has pretty much had free reign to eviscerate our government, making it dysfunctional on everything from environmental law to dealing with the virus.
But we do have things to be thankful for. Trump lost the election, even though he won't admit it. There has been progress made on a vaccine for Covid-19, which could reach the general public by spring. It is likely the economy will recover slowly after that.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that the United States is vulnerable to attempts by extremists to destroy our democracy. We must ask what we can do in the next few years to prevent this type of thing from happening again.
We have also learned that disinformation produced by foreign governments, political extremists and/or fake news sites out for profit or political gain, can severely influence the public and lead them into bad decisions. Never has that been more obvious than in the continued nonsense over mythical accounts of voter fraud or faulty vote counting from the national election. Those fabrications have been pushed by an impotent White House and enabled by the vast majority of Republican politicians in the House and Senate.
But we should also ask: What is the long-lasting effect of Trumpism?
Some historians have already put Trump below
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| (Pres James Buchanan, Courtesy Lancaster Museum) |
James Buchanan (1857-1861) who fumbled the nation into the Civil War as the worst ever U.S. President. But it's much more than that.
The 8 Worst Presidents in U.S. History (thoughtco.com)
Total Scores/Overall Rankings | C-SPAN Survey on Presidents 2017 (c-span.org)
First, there is the new conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, and dozens of lower Federal Court judges who do not represent mainstream America. That could impact progressive legislation negatively for decades.
Secondly, our status in the world community has been severely damaged by the withdrawals from the Paris Climate Change Accords, the Iran Nuclear Deal and the abandonment of our Kurdish allies in Syria. Mr. Biden has promised to rejoin the Climate Change deal and the Iranian agreement, but it could be a long time before the world community trusts us again on such issues because of Trump's isolationist rhetoric and actions.
Trumpism has also castrated the Republican party, showing us the gullibility (or is it complicity?) of some of our leaders like Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham among others. It may take years for many Americans to trust the national GOP again. Their inability to accept the election results and Trump's continuing resistance to a normal transition of power leaves the country vulnerable to mischief from our enemies. It also creates possible delay in some life and death decisions by the incoming Biden Administration, including early and effective distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine. The long transition period and the allocated funds are specifically designed to let a new administration take over with major pieces in place. The delay gives comfort to our adversaries who might seek to take advantage of any gap in policy or decisions. Trump will be putting yet another scar on the United States and its institutions long after he is gone.
We have also seen deep divisions among our population that have festered for a long time. Racism, voter suppression and radical ideology on both left and right remain as huge failures in our political system as they have since the Republic was born more than 250 years ago. These divisions have now been given a new life over the last four years, and it will take a long time to sideline them once and for all.
So, what do we have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving?
America is still here. Our system, as dented and damaged as it is, has survived for now.
Voters turned out in record numbers (150 million) to reject Mr. Trump and his divisiveness, even though 47% of those voters didn't want to reject him. It still brought many people into the political process who had been shirking or ignoring their duty as citizens, and that is a good thing.
Our much maligned pharmaceutical industry appears to have developed a vaccine in record time without much help from the government, which is also good.
Like many Americans, I will be thankful as well this Thanksgiving for my immediate family, which so far has escaped a deadly disease and stayed engaged on the right side of history. As you eat turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce, please take a few minutes to think about those 250,000 who died and millions more who suffered. Remember the pandemic is much worse than it should have been because of petty politics and incompetent leadership. US All Key Metrics | The COVID Tracking Project
I'll be writing more on this at year's end.
And then there is this:
One of the latest actions Trump has taken is to appoint Darren Beattie for a three year term to the Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. The Commission identifies and preserves historic cemeteries and buildings in Europe, including sites used to kill Jews and others during the Holocaust.
Mr. Beattie was a speechwriter who was fired from the White House in 2018. He had appeared on a panel with the founder of an anti-immigrant organization, which has an on-line presence with what has been labeled a "hate website". The Anti-Defamation League called the appointment outrageous. At the time he was fired, the administration was facing sharp public criticism over connections to white supremacists.
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| U.S. Army photo of clothes of victims at Dachau as it was liberated in 1945) |
On the subject of Pests!
Get ready for another pest this winter! Entomologists say it will be a particularly good season for the nasty Stink bug.
Unwanted guests: Stink bugs set to invade DC-area homes | WTOP
And finally there is this:
To all those people out there who have been screaming about the new restrictions many states have imposed because of the new wave of Covid-19:
YOUR RIGHTS ARE NOT BEING VIOATED.
YOU ARE NOT BEING FORCED TO MAKE ANY BIG SACRIFICE.
Current science indicates that wearing a mask and social distancing provides the best defense for the general public and promotes their general welfare. So do movement restrictions during the pandemic.
Storming the beaches at Iwo Jima or sweltering in the Vietnamese jungle was a sacrifice. Wearing a mask is just a temporary but necessary inconvenience.
Frankly, I have lost my patience with those who make the "violates my rights" argument.
You want to scream about something? Tell Mitch McConnell and his party of "no" to pass another bill to help small business owners who have lost their livelihoods, and the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs because of the virus.
A very Happy Thanksgiving to my readers and their families. May it also be safe!
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome.)
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