Two Tall Orders and the Political Perspective
This leaves Democrats with the necessity of getting out a massive voter turnout in a little more than ten months to restore the role of government as being "for the people" and incidentally to save democracy in our country.
That is a “tall order,” joining the other “tall order” kicking around, that of the Republicans’ saving what’s left of their party from the right-wing extremist cancer which is consuming it.
I don’t know what the Republicans will do about
their Party but I know the Democrats must mobilize the votes of women and
persons of color, groups which benefit from measures the Republicans always
oppose, in order to win.
Let’s start in
the Senate where in November, 34 seats are up for grabs, 20 of which are now in
Republican hands. Of these, 17 are sure
to remain Republican but the Democrats have a shot of taking 3 of them,
specifically in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin. (I would hope for a fourth in Florida based
on a strong race by Val Demings against Marco Rubio, but I am not counting on
it.)
Forgetting the
Vice-President’s tie-breaker, this will give the Democrats a 53 to 47 edge in
the Senate, providing they don’t lose any of the fourteen seats they presently
hold which are up for grabs. These include the seats of Senators Warnock (GA),
Kelly (AZ), Masto (NV) and Hassan (NH), all of whom face strong G.O.P.
competition. Let’s say they lose two and
win two of these seats, giving them a 51 to 49 edge in the Senate. I think this is the best they can hope for, with the vote of Senator Manchin no longer being crucial. It will amount to a more solid 50-50 split than we
have today, with the Vice-President’s tie-breaker saving the day, enabling the
filibuster rule to be modified, an essential step in eventually protecting
voters’ rights.
Right now, on
the House side, I fear that State-managed gerrymandering will result in the Democrats losing
their already thin majority. I don’t know what they can do about that without
the immediate passage of voting rights legislation and action based on it. But that will, I fear, be too late for 2022. So we will end up with a split Congress which
will be no real asset to the President. A Republican House, even worse, will do away with the House Select Committee investigation of the January 6 insurrection.
But things can
change. The pandemic, the truths coming
out of that investigation and
the former president’s legal troubles all can have an effect on what happens in
November.
Two Quotes
Journalists say things better than I can. Here are two quotes from some really good
ones. They appeared during the past week
in the New York Times.
Conservative columnist Ross Douthat, no fan of
progressive Democratic measures, looked ahead to the 2022 elections and wrote:
“… Without Trumpishness as a foil
and boogeyman, current-era liberalism would be headed for a fate once
anticipated for Republicans: a slow but steady ebb, a surprising demographic
squeeze.”
And Charles Blow, at the other end of the political
spectrum, fed up with the unvaccinated, wrote:
“… I am furious at the
unvaccinated, and I am not ashamed of disclosing that. I am no longer trying to understand them or
educate them. Barriers to access have
fallen. The only reason for remaining
unvaccinated that I now accept is from people who have medical conditions that
prevent it. All others have a choice to
either be part of the solution or part of the problem. The unvaccinated are choosing to be part of
the problem.”
The Pandemic
And while on the subject, here are my latest
thoughts on the Covid19 Pandemic. They are to say the least, muddled.
While it is becoming clear that vaccination
cannot automatically prevent infection, those who are vaccinated and
subsequently infected might not need hospitalization nor even show
symptoms. They might, however, be
contagious for others, and that is why testing is becoming a priority. Those who test positive, with or without
symptoms, should to some extent quarantine themselves and wear masks.
Fortunately, many of those vaccinated will still
be prevented from being infected and that reduces the opportunity for the
virus, in its many variants, to spread and further infect others. But some still can be infected, although to a
lesser extent than the unvaccinated and become contagious. The virus’ continued existence among the
unvaccinated and some of those vaccinated still enables future variants to
develop, until its spread is stopped. That is the battle medical science is fighting
right now.
I feel that, although in a reduced state,
Covid19 will be around for many years and as with the flu vaccine, there will
be annual boosters attuned to the latest variants, recommended and I hope
required.
Summary: The real problem is that Americans do not know who is infected and can spread the virus to them, and who is not. Being fully vaccinated helps but is not the answer. They too, along with the unvaccinated, can be infected, and still spread the virus, regardless of whether or not they have any symptoms.
And if tested and found to be positive, should a full
quarantine routine be followed as it was in the pandemic’s early days? How long before they should venture out to
stores, restaurants and public events? Are
we looking at a future where everyone will need to be tested weekly, even at
home with a do-it-yourself test kit? This might be necessary because there will always be those who remain unvaccinated, untested, not wearing masks
and not observing social distancing, enabling the virus to survive. Will that
be the new “normal”?
The bottom line is that the unvaccinated should get vaccinated and if they already are, get a booster shot! All of us should continue masking and observing social distancing (K95 and KN95 masks are preferable to all others). We should avoid crowds in closed public areas. And if you are exposed to political hacks like Floriduh governor DeSantis and his Sturgeon General (something is fishy about him), ignore them!
You want to blame someone for
this confusing picture? Look to those
who choose to remain unvaccinated and who are the main, though not the only,
contributors to the spread of the virus.
They are its allies. Most are
Republicans, too. Remember that when you
vote.
JL
A Strange Bowl Game
I wonder if the steep increases in homeowner’s insurance premiums have anything to do with “Roofclaim.com,” a national company which sponsored a recent football Bowl game in Boca Raton, Florida (an area with a lot of roofs). At best, their customers get a roof replaced that needed replacement. At worst, their commission-driven marketing manages to make a perfectly good roof, or one needing only minor repairs, eligible for full homeowners’ insurance coverage for replacing it, which gets paid to them. There are arguments on both sides but with insurance companies often involved in paying all or part of the bill, I have my doubts. The inclusion of the word “claim” in this company’s name suggests that its skill might rest in getting insurers to foot the bill, or much of it, anyway. A name like “Roof Repair” would be more reassuring than “Roof Claim.”
Sponsoring a football Bowl game, which isn’t
cheap, may add credibility to this firm, but that is for the individual to
determine. I make no recommendations.
Recently, when confronted with a sizable
increase in my homeowner’s insurance premium, I asked my broker to see if
another company might be less expensive.
The answer was “No” because they all were afraid to insure homeowners
with roofs over fifteen years old (mine is twenty). I wonder if that has anything to do with Roofclaim.com’s
wide and aggressive solicitation of business.
Incidentally, the Roofclaim.com Bowl game was very
poorly attended. Western Kentucky
outscored North Carolina’s Appalachian State, two teams having no appeal
whatsoever in the Bowl’s South Florida location, by a score of 59 to 38. The stadium’s 30,000 seat capacity was no more than half-full as the accompanying picture shows. Many local high school games draw as much. It was just played for
TV exposure for the sponsor.
 |
| 2021 Roofclaim.com Bowl at Boca's FAU Stadium |
I yearn for the days when Bowl games were not
business-sponsored but were civic ventures publicizing something for which an
area was known (Examples: Orange,
Cotton, Rose, Sugar, Sun, Tangerine, Peach Bowls, etc.). I recall seeing a football in a trophy case
at a Pennsylvania college marked as commemorating a 1946 victory in the Tobacco
Bowl, played years before in Lexington, Kentucky. That Bowl game didn’t “honor”
a brand of cigarettes, mind you, but tobacco in general. That’s quite a distance from roof repair, or
more specifically, insurance claims to cover roof repair, the 2021 sponsoring
interest in what was once called the Boca Bowl.
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