In a matter of weeks, the coronavirus outbreak has fundamentally changed American life. Businesses and schools have closed indefinitely, and hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs. As the economy continues to crash, everyday life feels more precarious than it ever has before. To help, government officials across the country are proposing a slew of benefits, such as a moratorium on evictions and mortgage payments, student loan deferments, releasing prisoners from crowded jails, moving unhoused citizens into hotels and unused apartment buildings, and sending a check to every American citizen for as long as this pandemic lasts.
These unprecedented actions have bipartisan support, as both sides of the aisle understand them to be necessary to address this national emergency. And while I know how scared Americans are feeling, I want to make one thing clear: we will weather this storm. Once the quarantine is lifted and a COVID-19 vaccine is developed, it will once again be business as usual. All the benefits you’ve come to rely on will go away, we will cut the social safety net we hastily assembled, and life will return to normal. As terrifying as things are now, we will persevere and return to the normal terror we’re used to.
We are not underestimating the devastating effects of COVID-19. We are taking this virus seriously, and help is on the way. We are in the process of implementing many left-wing policies — universal income, debt relief, free healthcare, reducing the prison population — that were unfathomable just a month ago. But I want to stress to all Americans that these policies are only temporary. While we might make coronavirus testing, and possibly even treatment, free of charge, rest assured, once this blows over, you will continue to go into debt for any other health issue. Nothing can stop the American way of life, not even a pandemic. We will not let this virus prevent our insurance companies from gouging us for basic services the way our Founding Fathers intended. (...)
Some of you might be wondering, why can’t we take this opportunity to address our country’s issues, create a strong welfare state, and change society for the better? I hear your concerns, but it’s a slippery slope. Once we start being decent, there’s no going back. If Americans aren’t one missed payment away from losing their home, people are going to be kind to one another on a scale we’ve never seen before. Neighbors will help neighbors. Young people will look after older people. Quality of life could skyrocket to levels we haven’t seen since before the invention of capitalism. It’s complete and utter altruism, and it will tear us apart. The sooner we go back to fucking each other over, the better.
[ed. See also: How We're Keeping Up the Fight (Elizabeth Warren); The Novel Coronavirus has a Well-Known Left-Wing Bias (Juan Cole); and The World Is Changing — So Can We (David Byrne).]
These unprecedented actions have bipartisan support, as both sides of the aisle understand them to be necessary to address this national emergency. And while I know how scared Americans are feeling, I want to make one thing clear: we will weather this storm. Once the quarantine is lifted and a COVID-19 vaccine is developed, it will once again be business as usual. All the benefits you’ve come to rely on will go away, we will cut the social safety net we hastily assembled, and life will return to normal. As terrifying as things are now, we will persevere and return to the normal terror we’re used to.We are not underestimating the devastating effects of COVID-19. We are taking this virus seriously, and help is on the way. We are in the process of implementing many left-wing policies — universal income, debt relief, free healthcare, reducing the prison population — that were unfathomable just a month ago. But I want to stress to all Americans that these policies are only temporary. While we might make coronavirus testing, and possibly even treatment, free of charge, rest assured, once this blows over, you will continue to go into debt for any other health issue. Nothing can stop the American way of life, not even a pandemic. We will not let this virus prevent our insurance companies from gouging us for basic services the way our Founding Fathers intended. (...)
Some of you might be wondering, why can’t we take this opportunity to address our country’s issues, create a strong welfare state, and change society for the better? I hear your concerns, but it’s a slippery slope. Once we start being decent, there’s no going back. If Americans aren’t one missed payment away from losing their home, people are going to be kind to one another on a scale we’ve never seen before. Neighbors will help neighbors. Young people will look after older people. Quality of life could skyrocket to levels we haven’t seen since before the invention of capitalism. It’s complete and utter altruism, and it will tear us apart. The sooner we go back to fucking each other over, the better.
by Matthew Brian Cohen, McSweeny's | Read more:
Image: Andrew Harnik/AP via ABC[ed. See also: How We're Keeping Up the Fight (Elizabeth Warren); The Novel Coronavirus has a Well-Known Left-Wing Bias (Juan Cole); and The World Is Changing — So Can We (David Byrne).]
