Looking Beyond The Horizon

Sometimes it feels like 2020 has become a compressed version of the entire 1960's. The details and circumstances are quite different, of course. But there is a similarly intense amount of societal pressure churning and building within the nation's Body Politic. The danger signs have been escalating in an alarmingly rampant manner over the last four years. And now we appear to be close to having a national stroke or heart attack, a complete breakdown.

We are experiencing a mammoth triple whammy: the COVID-19 health-socio-economic disaster, the Black Lives Matter/Racial Injustices Great Awakening, and a persistent form of Psychotic Disorder that is shared by 38% of this country.

And though it might be fun to get into the weeds and analyze each of these profound subject matters, let's do something different. Imagine, if you will, a time in the not too distant future where these issues are being resolved... what would such a timeline be like? Hmmm... I can see it now through my mystical eye:

After multiple unsuccessful attempts, a cheap, reliable and accessible COVID-19 vaccine is available. The recently restructured Obamacare with Public Option, and expanded Medicare/Medicaid programs helped deliver this game-changer to all corners of society. Legislation passed for new mandatory health standards in nursing homes, meat-packing facilities and prisons, among other person-intensive institutions. Home and community-based care has become more effective and prevalent, especially through new technologies. In general, preventative care and much-reduced insurance costs are now the norm.

The collective trauma of the virus lingers, with the knowledge that new ones may emerge anytime. The nation suffered from a series of rolling lockdowns, brought on by flares and outbreaks of the virus wherever guidelines were not enforced.

In fact, the after-effects of COVID have proven to be transformative across most sectors of the country. People continue to not trust other people in physical interactions. The bricks-and-mortar retail world is barely existent. Work-at-home created a sea change for commuters and their employers. As more people continued working from home, public transportation languished, but did not disappear.

Commercial real estate values plummeted. Home ownership in suburbs held fast, though sale prices diminished because of area foreclosures. Those who could afford to move away from urban centers did so, getting away from upclose density and interactions. Public schools have become a hybrid of online/home-schooling and traditional on-site experience. Infrastructure projects are scaled back because tax-revenue has been starved in a shrinking economy.

In fact, here in the U.S. and around the world, Life has become much slower than it had been just a few years before. There's a greater reliance on the "local" and not the "national." For example, the travel industry never really recovered, although modest local and regional vacations are still a thing. Airlines are used more for freight than people.

And while Cable and Streaming services have greatly benefited from stay-at-home guidelines, movie theaters stayed dark even after the virus could be treated. So did many other people-oriented Pop Culture and Fine Arts events. College and professional sports that survived underwent a radical change in presentation, leaving former fans supremely unsatisfied. The restaurant industry went cold, while home gardening warmed up.

Trust in the federal government has not yet been restored. So much damage was done by the Trump Administration and the Republican Party that it will take several more years of extensive, comprehensive reforms and electoral clean-up to clear the pervasive stink. However, elections since 2020 have featured success by Progressives and Left-of-Center Democrats. There has been a strong renewal in such values as Accountability, Expertise and Human Decency.

Supporters of The Orange One are still around, but their numbers, voices and influence are much diminished. Convictions of Trump officials continue to climb while remnants of the Trump Organization crash into bankruptcy. Following the disasters of 2020, the Trumpian tenets of the Republican Party are held in popular contempt. Fox News became a common target of lawsuits. Former sycophants were exposed as grifters. As a result, the GOP has attempted a series of political transformations, seeking to find a way back from the wilderness. But its core values were exposed as transparently corrupt and nihilistic; it exists as a permanent minority party.

Long-overdue action towards reforming the Judicial System, Police and Prisons has begun. Consumer protection against financial service providers and other predatory vendors has returned and been improved. And as the engines of Capitalism have slowed, the well-being of "essential workers" has accelerated. We've entered a time of reforming Capitalism, mitigating its ruthless tendencies and short-sighted bottom lines. Call it Human Capitalism, where the "invisible hand" is assisted by the informed hand of government policy intervention.

Movements like Black Lives Matter continue to shine a crucial spotlight on society's stubborn inequities. Smartphones remain as the most effective weapon against racism, bigotry and willful ignorance. Police and Fire Departments began hiring from within the communities they serve. And as the pie slice of White People becomes smaller in our American Pie, more minorities (and immigrants) see advancement in their socio-economic share and status. A stronger sense of respect and understanding towards all Americans has spread across the country, as progressive political victories mount.

OK, OK!! I better stop the visioning here before I get completely unglued and gooey. But there's more that needs to be said:

Overall, these "future years" show that though we become a slower, smaller world, we will become a better world. Our COVID experience has demonstrated that our previous way of life is not sustainable. And though we may continue to distance ourselves, as a people we arrive at a greater appreciation and need for each other.

The extreme fissures in our society won't be mended soon. But in the meantime there will be enough bridges built to patch together our fractured nation while a deeper healing takes hold.

Our country is rarely ever wholly united. It will be exceedingly difficult to succeed in uniting, without having a common enemy to rally against. But a common enemy exists and grows more powerful every day. It's an enemy that will challenge every person in our nation, and the world, much more so than our current set of crises. It will be the great conflict of our age, one that will fundamentally determine our way of life, our species and all future life on this planet.

Climate Change is the big one, the End Game, and our response to COVID is just a necessary practice run to get us ready. We fumble about in coordinating our sloppy state, national and international responses to the pandemic, to disappointing effect. As a nation and as a world community, we will need to tighten up our coordinations radically to face this relentless, borderless, civilization-crushing foe of our own making.

Such unparalleled world unity is required because Climate Change will be much more life-threatening to humans than COVID, and far longer lasting. Like the virus, it's a gathering phenomenon that threatens every one of us.

But we won't be able to wear masks and socially distance ourselves from drought, monsoons or early and late freezes. We can't develop a medical treatment for prolonged and withering triple digit heat, ruined crops and dwindling livestock. We won't have a vaccine for depleted water supplies, rising sea levels, massive human refugee movements and subsequent natural resource-driven warfare.

The lessons we learn from our struggles with COVID will determine if we will face the future successfully. And once we rid ourselves of our current White House and Senate "leadership" we can begin in earnest. It is not too late, but it will be if they succeed.