COVID-19 has caused a sudden halt in ordinary living. For many of us, it is hard to look past this moment. It is hard to understand how we can relish this pause. Absent the threat of the Coronavirus, many of us might have welcomed a quarantine supported by trillions of federal dollars. Perhaps providence has given us pause because we humans are unable to stop or even slow down without crisis. We now feel as a nation what so many learn when misfortune strikes a blow to our individual good health. Our nation is sick, literally, without paid time off. We are staying home, waiting to get better before we can go back to work without knowing when. We are engaged in collective sick-days and a once-in-a-lifetime shared national experience. Perhaps it need not be once-in-a-lifetime nor born of crisis.
Yet, we must look to the future so we can be better prepared for the unknown. My legislative response to this global pandemic can be found here:
As individuals, we push ahead. We work through it. We have a new reality where the harsh options are between home or hospital. Like most Americans, I am safer at home, neither spreading nor contracting the virus. Yet, ironically, in some ways we have never been less alone. We are all slowing down together. The playing field is a little flatter. If the government’s intervention does as it is supposed to do, we can take a collective national step back and meditate over the rare chance to relax, get healthy, eat chicken soup and not worry about what we are missing. It is also a chance to relish what we suddenly have as individuals, families and are also experiencing as a nation.
The Banks Should Not Be Part Of This. The Government Should Pay Workers Directly.
The government should pay employees directly as they are doing with the stimulus checks and as other governments propose for their labor forces. The IRS has enough information from the payrolls and filings of enough companies to pay employees directly based on straightforward guidelines.
We Should See The Potential During This Crisis.
COVID-19 reminds us that trust and potential collaboration are ubiquitous in ways we never could have known. It highlights the evolutionary edge of personal sacrifice and the instinct to trust that underpins it.
