Till the Multitude Make Virtue

 it is difficult in these last days leading up to november third to think of anything but the election, particularly the presidential election.  though the third is the official election day, millions of us have already voted, since every state offers an opportunity to vote early, either in person or by mail.  the long lines at the polling stations indicate how important this election is to many americans.  mr. trump's loyal base is determined that he should have another term in office, and those of us who are fearful of his being re-elected are just as determined that mr. biden should be the next president.

as we watched the last presidential debate, the contrast between the two men was stark.  in mr. trump we saw a man with little concern for the devastation the pandemic has wrought, as he told we had to learn to live with it, and offered no compassion for the thousands who have lost loved ones or those who have been infected by the virus themselves.  his primary concern seemed to be reviving the economy, yet he refused to accept responsibility for the failure of government to provide the level of support to businesses and individuals that is necessary to bring about that revival.  instead he blamed that failure on the speaker of the house of representatives who has led the house to pass a comprehensive economic support plan which the republican senate refused to consider or the president to endorse.  

on the other hand, mr. biden spoke with fervor and empathy to those who sit at their dinner tables and lay in their beds with a loved one missing.  he said that, rather than learning to live with the virus, we were learning to die from the virus because the president's administration has no plan for dealing with it and the havoc it has caused.  he spoke of the need for reopening the economy in a safe way with adequate financial support for businesses, schools, and individuals, of the need to listen to the advice of our health care experts and responsible scientists, while mr. trump called those experts "idiots."  on the one hand, we saw a person intent on division and chaos and one who spoke to us reassuringly with an understanding of the suffering of the people of this country and the world.

we cannot survive another four years of donald trump and his ilk.  he is a threat to our democracy, and the empowerment he would feel if re-elected would lead him to new heights of demagoguery and dictatorial power.  his tendency toward totalitarianism will be reinforced if the senate remains under republican control and if his nominee to the supreme court is confirmed, as she most certainly will be.

may we americans turn donald j. trump and his enablers out of office.  may we restore our democratic ideals.  may we honestly confront and deal with the scourge of racism that permeates our society.  may government serve us rather than exploiting us.  may we work together to bring the infection rate from covid-19 under control by following the best scientific and medical advice rather than ignoring it and listening to a president who tells us that its end "is just around the corner."  may we "crown [america's] good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea," as one of our most beloved songs says.  shalom.

'Twixt that Darkness and That Light

 the election is only a few days away.  many states have already begun early voting, allowing millions of people to cast their ballots.  the republicans at every level of government have done their best to suppress voter turnout, to bring into question the legitimacy of ballots cast by mail, and to plant suspicions about the legitimacy of the election process.  there is fear that donald trump will refuse to accept the results of the election if things don't go his way and that there will legal challenges to the result that will lead to the supreme court making the final determination about the outcome.  this is why trump is determined that his nominee for the vacancy on the court will be confirmed before the election, thereby giving him a court that is more favorable to him.

our democracy has never been in greater peril.  already, the judicial system has been transformed into one that is more inclined to side with republican positions.  while mr. obama was president, the republican-controlled senate refused to act on his nominees to the courts, leaving many vacancies that were then filled with trump appointees that were speedily confirmed by the senate, often with candidates for the bench who were unqualified.  in some states with republican majorities in their legislatures or with republican governors restrictive measures have been passed making it more difficult for people of color to vote.  the number of polling stations have been reduced, creating further difficulties for the poor and for black and latino voters to vote.  complicated regulations have been adopted in some states so that it will be easier to disqualify mail-in ballots, which are disproportionately cast by democratic voters.  all of this is being done to discourage voters more likely to vote for the democratic nominee and to disenfranchise certain segments of the population that tend to vote for democrats.

it appears that mr. biden has a wide lead in the polls and that the electoral college map leans in his favor.  the polls tell us that people in the usa are tired of the chaos of the last four years, are weary of the angry and divisive rhetoric coming from the white house, and blame mr. trump for the inept federal response to the covid-19 pandemic.  one can only hope that the polls are right.  the same pollsters told us that hillary clinton was almost certain to be elected president, and, though she won the popular vote decisively, her defeat in three states that were expected to vote in her favor threw the electoral college vote to mr. trump.  many in his own party are campaigning against mr. trump, believing that the nation's democratic institutions will not survive another four years of a trump presidency.  the instances of corruption, the flaunting of democratic norms, the willingness to belittle and threaten political opponents, the attacks on the free press, and the sycophantic behavior of the republicans in congress and mr. trump's cabinet members signal a future trump administration that would take the country to heretofore unimagined levels of dictatorial rule.

may we who are eligible to vote do so, overcoming any obstacles that are placed in our path.  may we vote to decisively remove mr. trump from office and turn our country around.  may we recognize how fragile our democracy is.  may we once more work in concert with other nations of the world to improve the lives of all of us.  may we turn from an "america-first" vision to one of humanity first.  may compassion prevail over hatred and division.  shalom.

Till Death Shall Set Me Free

 not too long ago, i heard someone tell the story of her grandmother whose husband was dying from cancer.  unable to cope with caring for him and their children while managing their farm, she asked her parents to come from their home several hours away to help her.  her parents took the train from a town near their home in oklahoma to assist their daughter, the storyteller's grandmother.  the train was carrying a large contingent of soldiers from kansas to an army base in texas before they were to be deployed to fight in the first world war.  several of the soldiers were infected with the so-called spanish flu, and the couple traveling to help their daughter caught the flu.  both of them died after arriving at their daughter's home.  fortunately for the daughter that they had come to help, she, her children, and husband escaped infection but the death of her parents, for which she blamed herself, colored the remainder of her life.  as the storyteller told it, her grandmother always had an air of sadness about her with her parents' death gnawing at her until she died.

as i recall that story, i think of our present situation, of how many might share this woman's story from back in the early 20th century.  because the virus' long incubation period inside one's body allows it to spread while one is unaware of being infected, the virus that is causing this current pandemic is particularly cruel.  while we go merrily on our way, we may be infecting our loved ones and anyone else with whom we come in contact without knowing that we are in the early stages of infection.  once symptoms appear, if they ever do, one infected person may have already spread the virus to many others, who in turn are spreading it to still more people.

as i heard on the news the other day, many of the current infections have been caused by small gatherings of close friends and families in private homes rather than by mingling with large numbers of people in public places.  certainly, crowded bars and restaurants and events like mr. trump's rallies and white house functions are still spreading the disease, but the intimate get-togethers that we crave may also be fueling the rapid increase in infection that we are now experiencing.  so many of us long for the return of what we thought was normality not so long ago.  we want to travel, to meet new people, to shop, to go out to eat, to go to a movie or a live show.  we want to go to church, to go to parties with our friends and family.  we are tired of wearing masks and angry with those who refuse to wear them.  we want to go to the grocery store and not have to worry about being exposed to the virus.

how do we find our way back to our old "normal?"  will the experience of living through this pandemic color the rest of our lives as it did the life of the grandmother who lost her parents to the flu in 1918?  a friend of ours has said that she believes that covid-19 will be with us for a long time and that we must learn to live with it as best we can.  she's probably right.  it would help if we had a national policy for slowing its spread and could rely on what we hear from our leaders.  we need honest folks at all levels of government who will listen to the advice of scientific and medical experts and reinforce what those who know best are telling them and us.  we need to know and follow the best practices to keep from becoming infected ourselves and to prevent others from being infected.  we need to stop whining about "individual freedom" and think of what's best for those around us, even if we have to endure some inconvenience for a time.

may we find common cause in dealing with this virus.  may we follow the advice of those in the medical and scientific communities.  may we work together to keep one another as safe as possible.  may we as a nation come to the aid of those who are suffering economic loss as a result of the sacrifices necessary to slow the spread of covid-19.  may we act in concert with other nations of the world rather than isolating ourselves from them and acting in selfish, confrontational ways towards them.  may we support one another, realizing that we all suffer because of the havoc this pandemic is causing.  shalom.

Mother of Exiles

 now that the president and many of those around him have been infected with covid-19, the importance of this year's election is underscored.  as the nation has watched the president and his advisors ignore and contradict the recommendations of medical experts, we have seen the grave peril in which their actions have placed us.  as in many other areas, including climate change and environmental degradation, this administration has turned its back on science to pursue a course that is dangerous and shortsighted.  increasing the short term wealth of businesses at the expense of the health and safety of our population has placed us all in danger.

the alternative being presented to us by the president's challenger in the election, mr. biden, demonstrates that we can do much better if we heed the warnings and advice of science by moving to an economy that capitalizes on the need to protect our natural beauty and resources and to make health care available to all our people.  we can produce the energy we need by using clean, renewable sources while slowing both climate change and pollution of the ground, air, and water.  in the process, new jobs will be created, and we will all be better off.

the choice is clear: a science-denier versus a candidate who believes in science, a make-money-at-any-cost failed businessman versus a candidate who believes that we must share the wealth of this nation with all our citizens, a man who tries to deny access to medical care to many of us versus one who believes we are better off as a nation if we all have access to the care we need, a sitting president who ignores the findings of our intelligence community and ingratiates himself with dictators versus one who believes that we ought to pay attention to and act on what we learn from our intelligence agencies and that we should befriend our democratic allies and oppose totalitarian regimes.  it is difficult to see why some still place such stock in mr. trump after all we have learned about him and his family.  we have a pathological liar for a president, one who is at the mercy of unknown entities because of his large debts, and still his faithful base heaps adulation on him.

may we vote mr. trump and those who enable him out of office.  may we elect a leader for whom we have respect, one who embraces inclusiveness rather than sowing chaos.  may we show the world that we are better than what mr. trump and his ilk would have us be.  may we be a partner to  other nations in creating a better world that promotes human values and cares for the earth, rather than an "america-first" sort of country that heaps disdain on our friends.  shalom.