A Year of Covid

 “The other wing of the neoliberal establishment, the one represented by the Democratic party leadership, fears that exposing capitalism in this way – making explicit its inherently brutal, wrist-slitting tendencies – will awaken the masses, that over time it will risk turning them into revolutionaries.” Jonathan Cook

As we near one year of life in a pandemic I think of The Plague by Camus which I re-read last Spring. I remember the first lockdown, when the streets of Santa Barbara were deserted, eerily silent, except for the sound of the breeze in the trees; I remember walking to the grocery store with my wife, standing anxiously in a long line to pick-up some basic foodstuffs, hoping to find eggs, milk, beans, and toilet paper; I remember a Saturday morning at Smart & Final, staring in near disbelief at empty shelves, like I was in a tale from the old Soviet Union. It all looked and felt so strange, like the end of the world. 

Last March and April I felt certain the pandemic would get worse before it got better, and sure enough, primarily because of the criminally negligent response of the Trump gang, the death toll from Covid-19 rose steadily. When it surpassed 100,000 I was stunned. How could this happen in the United States? It was a question easily answered: a broken political establishment headed by Trump, a cruel ideology hostile to knowledge, science, common sense, and expertise. Trump treated it like a PR opportunity. Day after day he stood before the people and lied out of his ass. I started a series of reflections titled, The Isolation Diaries, which became, after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the police, The Isolation/Rebellion Diaries. 

The rebellion for racial justice was short lived, as Charles M. Blow notes in his latest book, The Devil You Know. Blow writes, “And in the end, however protest is performed, for what motivations, it will eventually wane. Outrage is an expensive emotion. It consumes energy like a blaze. At some point, inevitably, the fuel is exhausted.” Our collective attention moved on even as other black men were murdered by trigger-happy police officers. 

I don’t know what being “woke” really means. I was awake to the reality of race in America long ago, by virtue of reading and reflection, and I recognized my unearned white privilege for just that, a privilege, a passport to move about freely without a thought of being targeted by law enforcement, or regarded by society as an existential threat. With very little effort I could live in peaceful anonymity. This privilege fell to me by virtue of my birth. By my whiteness I could enjoy first and second chances. I got this white ticket by sheer blind luck, by being born to my French-Canadian parents. I didn’t earn the privilege, it was handed to me. Do I fully understand what it’s like to be an Other? No. Can I imagine what it’s like? Yes. If you sit long enough with the truth, you can get to that place. 

My mind is a contradiction, full and empty at the same moment, fatigued but antsy. I wonder if the Democrats will compromise away their chances of expanding their slim majorities in 2022. If the past is prologue, it’s almost guaranteed they will. Angry, frustrated voters will take it out on Democrats in 2022. To make sure they win, the GOP will depress turnout using all their anti-democracy tricks; if the GOP retakes one of the chambers, or both, I don’t see how the nation remains “united” in anything but name. At that point, faced with permanent minority rule, the so-called Blue states should secede. Sounds crazy, but is it any crazier than a handful of white, male senators from sparsely populated states blocking any and all legislation that might better the lives of the majority? Is denying majority rule not a form of craziness? Too many elected officials believe democracy is a nuisance and the oath they swear little more than a mild admonition, completely optional. As we careen from crisis to crisis we need a functioning federal government. Why? Because no other entity can manage a crisis on a nationwide scale. No other entity has the resources. No other entity can do what needs to be done to keep climate catastrophe, of which pandemics are part, at bay. Sorry, Texas, you proved the case for the regulation of core common resources, which include electricity and water. 

I worry for my children’s future, especially my daughter. Does she have enough grit? Have we coddled her too much, let too many things slide and been too easy on her? The near future will see climate refugees as parts of the planet sink under rising oceans, food production becomes impossible, and entire regions burn. I don’t imagine life will be easy, especially for the masses of people in the Have Not camp. As life is constantly upended, made inconvenient and then uncomfortable, our fears of one another will grow. If our laws are not fairly executed by honest people, if there is no accountability for the wealthy and powerful, if a new appreciation for the commons that we all depend on isn’t nurtured and supported by the people, another Trump-like figure will rise. 

It’s a crazy world, as beautiful as it is horrid. People fly in private jets over concrete bridges under which people live. The chosen and the rest. The royal family. The cardinal and the pope. The landed gentry and the golden aristocracy. The plutocrats. The oligarchs. The Supreme Leader. The Czar. The Fuhrer. The President for Life. The General. The emperor. Who rules? Who says how the pie is to be divided and among whom? How can you live free if you’re burdened with debt, suffer a chronic illness and have no medical care, and work two or three crappy soul-killing jobs to make what one job once paid? Who has the money and power? How do they get it, hold it, expand it? 

A year of Covid, a changed landscape. The outdoor eating areas on State Street look fancier and more permanent all the time.