The USPS arrested Steve Bannon today so that’s cool.
The battle for the soul of the nation has recently manifest itself in the bitter battle over the USPS and mail-in voting. Trump seems to know that if all votes are counted, he will lose. He said earlier that this is why they’ve closed certain polling stations, and now, he aims to disallow mail-in voting. The Dems want mail-in voting. They’ve both drawn a line over this issue, and because of it, they have not passed a new stimulus to replace the one that phased out a couple weeks ago. The mail-in voting issue is existential for both sides, and thus it seems unlikely there will be any solution to this impasse (it also seems unlikely since they just went on vacation). Many people on the left do not realize it, but the USPS has long been held up by Libertarians as the quintessence of big government waste. Thus, for Trump, this issue is the perfect one for rallying the base, and he has set about sabotaging the USPS in every way he can (which is a lot of ways). Lately the mail has not been getting delivered very consistently.
Part of the issue is that the country is now very divided over how much of a problem COVID is, and how the need to rescue the economy compares. While the biggest companies have gotten literally trillions, small businesses and franchises have found it nearly impossible to get loans. With everyone stuck at home, and unable to work, consume, or travel, the economy is feeling real pain. A big problem, though, is that with tens of millions unemployed, the stock market is literally at all time highs as I type this. Thus the story goes that we are recovering well… All you have to do is look at Europe and Asia to see what a good recovery looks like — and it’s not us.
But anyway, back to COVID. The data shows we are over the hump (except maybe Florida). The data shows that it is MUCH less deadly than we though — something akin to the flu. The ENTIRE (yes, ENTIRE) reason for locking down the country and stopping the economy was to not overwhelm the hospital system. The ENTIRE reason. Now that possibility has passed. In my view, it is time to open up again albeit cautiously, and with masks on, etc… but waiting for a vaccine makes absolutely no sense.
Nonetheless, you are still enjoying working from home somewhat, although it is getting a bit monotonous. It takes a lot of intentionality to stay active, stay social, and keep a life moving forward rather than getting stuck in place. Two of your friends/acquaintances died in the last week (at least one suicide). The toll is real. We are living in a depression, and general strikes and food riots are in the air. There are ongoing protests still in most major cities. Joe Biden’s team is not even pretending at this point, their entire campaign is “we aren’t Trump.” It might work.
