First in a Series: Ideas and Plans for a Humane Post Pandemic World
The days drone on for all of us in self quarantine. Without much effort, it’s possible to descend into a cycle of bad news, worry, and depression. It’s great that people have adapted in small ways: zooming, baking, gardening, etc.
We need to do more. I’d like to propose some thought about what the world could look like post coronavirus. The present crisis will last well into the summer, and reverberate socially and economically for years to come.
It’s my opinion, and the view of many others, that things will never be the same again. Let’s have a conversation about what that could mean from a glass half-full perspective.
I’m not interested in promoting ideas with no connection to reality (sorry, some form of capitalism will continue to exist, at least for a while); I’m looking for the seeds of change embedded or suggested by the needed focus on what is the greater good.
The coronavirus pandemic has had an economic and social impact on the U.S. ranking with the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, either World War, or the Great Depression. A path to what once passed as normalcy, despite what economic and political leaders would wish upon us, does not and should not exist.
It’s foolish to assume the weaknesses of the system that got us here will be immediately obvious to most folks; the fact is we’re struggling with the here and now. Food, shelter, and, most of all, our physical and mental health are the immediate challenges. But sooner or later, we’ll all have to come up for air and think “what’s next?”
Unfortunately, this situation provides a privileged few with a opportunity to take advantage of us all. Naomi Klein has identified a historical cycle of disasters prompting extreme economic reforms along with post-crisis opportunities for self-enrichment for those at the top of the heap.
Take a look beyond the frantic gestures and gas lighting by the Dear Leader and you’ll see an on-going parade of executives of major corporations willing to trade a little flattery for future considerations. Recent weeks have included press conference cameos or closed door face time with bankers, health-care executives, shipping companies, hoteliers, and even the CEO of the Better Business Bureau “F” rated My Pillow.
Another way is possible, based on choices we can make in the coming months. The “marketplace” version of how society functions depends on an induced degree of insensitivity to the plight of others. Empathy as a virtue has become scorned by too many with vested self interest as the path to prosperity or power.
The good news here is the easily identifiable trigger for the current catastrophe, as Peter C. Baker (in an article worth reading all the way through) observes in the Guardian:
Compared to the opaque financial crisis, with its credit default swaps and collateralised debt obligations, the coronavirus is relatively easy to understand. It is a dozen crises tangled into one, and they’re all unfolding immediately, in ways that cannot be missed. Politicians are getting infected. Wealthy celebrities are getting infected. Your friends and relatives are getting infected. We may not quite all be “in it together” – as always, the poor are hit worse – but there is more truth to the idea than there ever was in the wake of 2008.
In this, the optimists believe, there is hope that we might begin to see the world differently. Maybe we can view our problems as shared, and society as more than just a mass of individuals competing against each other for wealth and standing. Maybe, in short, we can understand that the logic of the market should not dominate as many spheres of human existence as we currently allow it to.
“More people are in a position to connect the dots,” Klein said. “It has to do with people’s experiences; for people of a certain age, their only experience of capitalism has been one of crisis. And they want things to be different...”
Beyond identifying the problems, it’s time to pay attention to the possibilities created by acts of kindness, a sense of solidarity, and the resolve needed to protect that which goes beyond property, namely the familial and personal relationships making life worth living.
The basis for progressive political and social actions already exists, created in large part by the various organizations springing up in the wake of Trump’s election. 2018’s Blue Wave could be the harbinger of a “new” New Deal.
Just as it’s true that our economic and social orders have been fundamentally challenged by the pandemic, it is also true the changes in reality could easily change what's perceived as politically possible.
For example, the arguments made last fall about employer connected health insurance are going to look mighty weak with 46 or so million people unemployed and an ongoing health crisis.
So--don’t tell Joe Biden this yet--but some version of Medicare for All might not seem so crazy by November.
Over the coming days (and probably weeks) I’ll be crafting essays building on the observable dismantling of the old normal with suggestions for what could be. The topics I’m researching include: retail, labor power, education, political campaigns, food, healthcare, and leisure.
I’m open to publishing outside essays and/or suggestions (drop me a line!) by readers on these and similar topics, so if the urge strikes, please reach out to me. Just remember, what I’m trying to do here is to posit a pragmatic approach to what could and should be, based on observable events.
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Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com
Lead image by Gerd Altman via Pixabay