Celebrate - Then Get to Work

 

There is not much else today to tell. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won a historic victory over Donald Trump. For four years, American democracy was pummeled by a president who broke both norms and laws and used every tweet and public appearance to divide Americans. And make no mistake, we are a divided nation, more so than in 2016. We are approaching 10 million cases of Covid-19 with at least 237,000 deaths and the end is not anywhere in sight. The politically more red states such as North Dakota are leading in cases per 100,000 population daily (176 cases per 100,000 population as of today) and hospitals are again filling up with sick and dying patients. El Paso, TX is reeling as cases rise and hospitals are filled to overflowing; the military is responding to appeals for assistance but Americans must not believe the military is the answer. The medical capabilities for our Army, Navy, and Air Force are limited and there have been calls to reduce their budget. Perhaps one thing that Trump got correct was to reject this advice from Defense Secretary Esper.

The pandemic is at the top of the list of problems that Biden’s administration deal with. Biden has announced he will name a team tomorrow to begin picking up the pieces from a federal response that Trump abandoned. We are still 73 days out from inauguration and I fear that they will continue to see cases and deaths mount as Trump dithers. We will have to hope that a better approach is on the offing. Until the pandemic is confronted, the economic picture will remain bleak. With Mitch McConnel re-elected and control of the Senate in doubt, Biden may face the same uphill battle as Obama and he did in 2011. There are already inklings that the GOP is going to scream austerity and cut the budget after January 20th. And the crisis of global warming just continues, to add another existential mess to solve.

And the political and cultural divide will remain. Urban versus rural, racial tensions, us versus them, the whole schmear remains. We had better buckle up and decide right now that there is much work to be done and all of us must pitch in. If we learned anything over the past four years and from the election of 2020, it is that we cannot just resume life as normal (as if the pandemic would allow that). We must remain politically active each and every day. We must return to a fact-based world and call out propaganda and lies for what they are. We must invest in science and data to solve multiple problems. We must care for each other as Americans and citizens of Planet Earth, the only spaceship our species will ever have. People make us great, all people. All colors, all vocations and professions, all genders -- we need to embrace E pluribus unum today and forever.

Let’s celebrate. Then let’s get to work.