Wide Awake

I'm wide awake.

I shouldn't be because it's 2:38 a.m. But while our congressional "leaders" dither, the fabric of our society frays at an ever-alarming rate. The rhetoric has been about a revolution, but what we really need is an awakening.

The number of people dying from the COVID-19 pandemic is staggering. The tally is comparable to other singular events; 1918 Spanish Flu, World War II, or 9/11. The sheer toll is nearly unimaginable. Sadly, we were ill-prepared.

The problem now is not that tragedy has befallen us. It's not about affixing blame for who didn't do this or that. It's certainly not about talking about how resilient we are. People who lived through The Great Depression and World War II were resilient, but they still had to suffer through it. So will we.

It's about what to do right now. It's about simple survival. Not just from the virus, but from the impending economic fallout on a scale we've never before encountered. This ordeal has already been hard. It's likely to get a lot harder.

First and foremost, we must survive the health crisis. If we don't, nothing else matters. Nothing. Complacency kills. That's how we arrived at this point to begin with. Yet, it's still surprisingly pervasive.

It's imperative that we develop a better and swifter comprehensive response. That'll involve extensive testing, at the very least; something we haven't been able to achieve to date. I'll leave the virus solution to the medical experts, but the economic response so far has been bewildering. Trillions of dollars have been misallocated. Propping up financial markets at this juncture is shortsighted and will ultimately prove ineffective as the longer term impact from record unemployment and crippled industries plays itself out. You're delusional if you think there is a V-shaped recovery on the horizon. It simply isn't going to happen.

Sirens should be sounding on near-term economic concerns that involve the crumbling supply chain and the general welfare of the population. The increasing disruption to producing and distributing necessary goods, especially food, is alarming. Priorities are being redefined, and it's a real question mark of whether those responsible for keeping such things intact are even paying attention. Overall policy decision-making often appears incomplete, uninformed, or outright contradictory. We need to do much better and we'll need new leaders to emerge to make it happen.

That's a lot of doom and gloom to digest. I hope I'm wrong, but I fear I'm right. To paraphrase the band U2, this is not a rebel article...but there's been a lot of talk, maybe too much talk. It's time for an awakening.

Public Service

The Windmill is back!

I thought the following interview was a great way to relaunch the blog. 

Schwarzenegger on the Gerrymandering problem - CNN

https://apple.news/AprU0Gs1AQHe6bqyeADgOcQ

Leaderless

The last Rotterdam Town Board meeting made one thing resoundingly clear – there isn’t a true leader among any of the elected five members. Procedurally, the meeting was a complete mess. Most have been after the 2009 election. Sure, there are a few political novices among the bunch but there is also a fair degree of experience as well. It’s now 2011 and there has not been much if any progress toward conducting a meeting efficiently or transparently. The cause of that has been the subject of enough finger-pointing to cause a blindness epidemic! At this juncture, it’s beyond disgraceful.

Even worse though, is the rancor. No one on the dais seems to be able to maintain any semblance of professionalism. The disrespect is blatant and intentional. It’s very sad to witness but the real damage isn’t limited to the political participants. It has seeped into the audience. Disrespect has been validated by the behavior of the Town Board members and has now been adopted by too many in attendance. Disrespect breeds disrespect. I have previously stated on this blog that if you intend to hold someone to a higher standard, then you’ve got to hold yourself to that same higher standard first. This Town Board has collectively failed to do that.

It is abundantly clear that every member of the Town Board is trying to advance their own personal agendas at the expense of everything else. Normally, this might not be so surprising but this crew was elected as a unified team with a unanimous Democrat endorsement. What’s occurred since is nothing short of a travesty.

I don’t believe there is a leader among them. If there was, they would have already emerged to quell the fiasco. Instead, each seems hell-bent on fueling it.

The solution lies in upcoming elections. The Supervisor seat and two Town Board seats will be up for election in November. It’s still wicked early so most candidates are not known yet. What we should know at this point is who we definitely don’t want. We need to start looking for those who will bring some professionalism back to the meetings in place of the juvenile antics we have currently. We need to start looking for those who favor rigorous, respectful discourse and debate in place of last minute shenanigans and political maneuvering. We need to look for true leaders.