We Must Stop the Virus NOW

Most of the country – both governments and people – has diddled over the course of the last 17 months while the virus has taken its toll, surged again, taken its toll, and surged again.  With the availability of effective vaccines last January (I hate to say it, but thanks to Trump's urgency), we all breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that if the vast majority of people get vaccinated, the virus would be stopped, even if not eliminated. 

But there was a major problem with this scenario:  almost half the people did not want to get vaccinated for one reason or another.   Whether the reason was political, misinformation, or fear, the result is the same.   And despite the best efforts of government and NGOs to turn this around, nothing to date has been effective. 

The only solution, short of declaring a national health emergency and forcing everyone to get vaccinated, is to separate the vaccinated from the unvaccinated to the extent possible.   Requiring a vaccine passport to enter any indoor establishment that is not essential, including airplanes.   For essential indoor venues, like grocery stores, it means mandating masks for everyone..

Airplanes must be included because if you look at the New York Times hot spot map, what is clearly happening in the coastal south is that unvaccinated tourists are bringing the virus to resort areas and from there it is spreading.    To control unvaccinated people driving to resort areas, hotels must be told to require proof of vaccination (that was done in New England earlier in the pandemic).

This must be done nationally, not left to the states.  And it must be done now.   States like Texas and Florida are actually prohibiting both vaccine mandates and mask mandates by local governments.   There  can be no hesitation.   We know what hesitation brings.  Actually, we have already hesitated again and the horse is out of the barn, but the virus can still be corralled. 

If people continue to choose not to get vaccinated, then they cannot be allowed to infect others.  This is not about their freedom not to get vaccinated to protect themselves; it's about their not having the freedom to infect others.    They must pay the price for their socially irresponsible behavior by being segregated. 

The Present Holding Pattern

I haven't written a post in a month.   The reason is that there is really nothing new to post about.   

1.   Republicans are being true to their conversion to Trumpism, whether at the national or state level (although it is more rabid at the state  level).   In Congress, they are either just interested in blocking Biden's agenda, regardless of the interests of their constituents, whose interests they are supposed to represent.   Or they continue to further the falsehood that Biden won the election fraudulently and the January 6 storming of the capitol had nothing to do with Trump and the people in the riot were just patriots. 

I would love to see a video that juxtaposed Speaker McCarthy's statements on January 6 and immediately thereafter, and his statements now.   You can't even call it a shift.   It's a total reversal from truth to lies.  The man and his party have no shame, no ethics.

2.   The virus is doing its thing, and the millions of unvaccinated people in the US are enabling it to have another surge with the Delta variant which is causing, in areas with low vaccination rates, numbers of cases to rival the worst part of the pandemic.   And when these unvaccinated people get infected and travel to areas with high vaccination rates and partake in crowded indoor activities (restaurants, bars, dance clubs), even those vaccinated (who aren't wearing masks anymore) get infected. 

There is no indication that anything much will change on this front.   Many people who choose not to be vaccinated are adamant.   Some are undecided still, and so perhaps they will get the shots, but the majority are in the first group. 

Bottom line, while we were never going to be free of the virus, it looks like our return to normal in most areas of the country is a thing of the past.   Even the vaccinated will have to wear a mask indoors, certainly in a reasonably crowded venue.   

Some places, like Broadway theaters, are requiring people to be fully vaccinated and wear masks in order to attend.  Some employers are requiring works to be vaccinated,  All indoor venues, except those that are essential, should have this requirement.   This includes airlines.   And if they aren't essential, all visitors must be required to wear a mask. 

3.   No news on the climate change front.   We continue to experience increased numbers of and severity of natural disasters, whether it's heat, rain, flooding, drought, wildfires, etc.   As with the virus, too many people take no responsibility for their actions and efforts by the government will have minimal impact, and too late.   We are it seems past the tipping point and the only question is how bad will it get.   That's the only thing we/government can impact now. 

So we as a country and as a government are in a stalemated, holding, pattern.   It is in all regards a sad state of affairs.   Whatever euphoria and hope there was after Trump lost the election are long since gone.   For the foreseeable future,  posts will come when matters warrant or there is some important observation to make.

Trump as Pandora - The Unleashing of Evil

None of the hate and bigotry, the meanness and self-centeredness, that has become a prominent aspect of our society, our body politic since Trump ascended to the presidency  was created by Trump.  These feelings and tendencies have always existed across a broader section of our society than we would care to admit. 

But until Trump, these feelings were held down by the vast majority of people because such feelings were not approved by society, or better put, by society's leaders - neither those on the left or on the right.  Even before the term "politically correct" was coined, voicing such feelings was not done, except among friends.  Only those on the fringes of society voiced such feelings openly and freely. 

Thus our society with its laws and public presence had the facade of a body politic, of people who agreed to disagree, of a social contract.  Even an underlying racism was held down in most parts of the country.  And that facade was strong enough to withstand the pressures of events, even riots. 

But that has all changed.  Trump has opened the proverbial Pandora's box.  And all the venomous feelings that had been held down were given fresh air to breathe and permission to let themselves be heard.   

Trump as President, as this country's leader elected by basically half of the people, saw that his route to power and control was to give voice to these long-denied feelings.  It doesn't matter where Trump stood on these issues as a person.  He knew that by harnessing the energy of these pent-up feelings that he would have the undying loyalty of his base and thus the support to be the autocrat that he was. 

Trump was defeated in the 2020 Presidential election by a good, decent man, who good, decent people rallied behind.  But the fact that half of the people again voted for Trump is not just a consistent sign of our divided politic (the popular vote in most presidential elections in recent times has been very close), but it shows that half the people were more attracted to than repelled by his venom. 

And the actions of Republican elected officials in both state legislatures and Congress show the power that he still wields due to the continuing undying loyalty of not just his base but the majority of the Republican Party.  A just released, well-respected, Monmouth University poll found that 65% of Republicans believe that Biden won because of voter fraud. 

I wrote more than 15 years ago that the new radical Republicans have become masters of the Big Lie, and like Joe McCarthy they had no shame.  That perspective within the Party has morphed into a monster that is out of control, that knows no bounds. 

Last December I wrote a post, "Where Do We Go from Here?" and stated, "Even if Trump ends up in jail, convicted of tax fraud or whatever, it won't make a difference to his minions.  Indeed, they will just think he was unjustly convicted; a victim of the very establishment that he fought against."  There is nothing one can do in the short term to disabuse people of their faith in Trump.  

In world history, leaders who held such sway over their people, such as Hitler or Mussolini, only fell from power because they lost a war.  Even after that, many people continued to revere them as leaders. 

I fear that once Pandora's box is opened there is nothing that anyone can do, beyond hopefully the passage of time, that will return us to a civil society, where we believe that we are all true Americans, where we all agree to disagree, where we support the integrity of our democratic institutions, and where we let the majority rule.  Until such time, it's going to be a bumpy ride. 

The Delusional COVID Honor Code and Its Risk

We are at a critical point in our fight against COVID.   We have finally reached the point in the pandemic when, as a result of mass vaccinations and new case numbers coming down drastically, most states have fully reopened, several are scheduled for June.   Only two have set no date. 

But there's a catch.   Roughly half of the population has not been vaccinated.   And what is government's response to this catch?   Regarding mask mandates, it ignores the problem.   

The general guidance is that if you are fully vaccinated you don't have to wear a mask except in the limited situations defined by the CDC - airplanes, public transportation, etc. By deduction, that means that if you aren't fully vaccinated you should still wear a mask in all situations.   But I have not seen a sign anywhere that says, "If you are not fully vaccinated you must wear a mask to enter."

Everyone is operating on an honor system.   That is, if someone is not fully vaccinated they will wear a mask.   

Clearly in many situations, like stores, it would be impossible to police mask wearing, so one has no choice but to follow the honor system.   But at least the sign at the entrance should clearly state that if you are not vaccinated you must wear a mask to enter.   Or one could say, recognizing the risk, that everyone still must wear a mask, whether vaccinated or not. 

But even at the gym I go to, they are using the honor system.   Here it would be very easy to require people to present proof that they are vaccinated when entering the gym.

So what is the problem with an honor system?   It sounds very American.   

The problem is that many of those who have decided not to be vaccinated, for political or anti-government reasons, are the very people who were against mask mandates to begin with.   They will not now voluntarily don a mask because they haven't been vaccinated. 

And so you have half of the population that is still highly susceptible to infection by COVID most likely not wearing masks and thereby putting both themselves and those around them at risk.   For those who are vaccinated the risk may be relatively low, at least for the infection to be serious, but the risk is still there. 

We are thus risking another COVID surge.   Granted it may be limited to half the population, but that would still be bad for the economy, schools, our return to normalcy. 

At one point, there was discussion about having vaccine passports for entrance to all sorts of venues that put people in close indoor quarters - such as planes, theaters, restaurants.  That idea has been discarded because it was felt that it would impinge on people's right of freedom of movement.   But does one have a right to risk infecting another individual?  No.

Masks mandates should still be mandatory for those who are not fully vaccinated.   And in all situations where it is practical, proof of vaccination should be required before being allowed to enter without a mask.  Where it is not practical, until we reach herd immunity, everyone should still have to wear a mask. 

From a public policy perspective, perhaps such a policy would even encourage some people who weren't going to get vaccinated to get it.   That would be helpful. 

Bottom line, the government must do what it can to protect us from more damage from this pandemic. 

Man Is Not Wired for the World He Has Created

Why is man so beset with the ravages of insecurity and fear?   This lack of a feeling of security and the endless competition of modern life has left man unable to experience any peace with himself.   One may point to those with strong egos as being an exception, but in reality those who exhibit a strong ego have been found at their core to be very insecure.   Man is typically fully functional, but he is not at peace. 

Why does it matter?  If man is fully functional, so what if he is insecure and not at peace?  The reader may think that sounds like new-age hogwash.   

If man is insecure and not at peace, he cannot have, despite his best efforts, healthy relationships with his spouse, children, parents, and colleagues; he cannot act rationally in his best interest; and the insecurity leads to the violence, cruelties both large and small, and inhumanity that we see evidenced everyday.   And so there is no end to the dysfunction and the psychic suffering in this world.

Take a moment, or actually many, to think about your relationship with yourself and others.   If you think deeply, allowing reality to replace illusion, you will know that what I have just said is true. 

But back to my original question, why is this the almost universal state of man.   A strong clue comes from the comparison of aboriginal people* with not just contemporary man, but really man since he left the aboriginal life style.   Certainly man since the time of the Buddha, which was 3500 years ago, which predates the period when the Old Testament is thought to have been written. 

From what we know of aboriginal man, primarily from first-hand experience of aboriginal groups which remained intact, that is to say isolated, as late as the first part of the 20th century, aboriginal man lived happy lives not consumed by fear and other neuroses and emotions normally associated with man.   Close to home, we know this about American Indians before they were corrupted by contact with the White man.   Hence the phrase, "noble" or "innocent" savage.  

But while they were certainly innocent of the world of modern man, innocent in a similar sense to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they were not innocent of the world they lived in.  They were aware of the significant natural and physical challenges that they faced in life.   But despite the hardships, or what we would certainly view as hardships, it did not impact their spirit and their sense of self.   Why?

Although aboriginal man was able to speak a different, and we believe a more exact and nuanced, language than animals spoke, and they had a more developed brain, their lives were in important ways more similar to that of our immediate primate ancestors, the large apes, than to modern man.   They lived off the land much as animals do and were deeply connected to it.   Their communal life was similar to that of the larger apes.   

Perhaps most importantly, for their psychic health, was their after-birth experience and the way they raised their young.  Birth, being thrust out of the womb, has to be a scary experience. When an animal is born, it is typically licked all over by the mother and is always next to the mother’s warmth until weaned. Aboriginal mothers, sans the licking, cared for their babies in much the same way.   But now when a baby is born, at least since Victorian times, it is slapped on the behind, washed by a stranger, rolled up in a blanket and given to its mother to be held and fed before being put in a basinet by itself. Not a nurturing environment. 

When a child is born, he has four basic needs:  food, freedom from pain, warmth/nurturing, and physical security. These are what I have called the four irreducible needs of all human beings, indeed probably of all sentient beings. In particular, a baby’s need for nurturing, for unconditional love, is almost without limit. So from the moment of its birth, a modern baby finds that its needs are not met, and the first seeds of insecurity are sown.  An animal's needs, on the other hand, unless it is the runt of the litter, are met. 

Aboriginal children are raised much as young animals are raised . . .  communally.  Thus they play together with other children from an early age, they are watched over by all adults, not just their mother, and they practice through their games basic, necessary, functions of life.   From the very start, the "I" of the child is more an "i," and all thoughts are in the context of "we."

Man is an advanced animal.  He is another species but not another life-form, class, or order.   And so he is biologically and developmentally "wired"  - –meaning all of his mental and other functions - for life as an animal.  And there has been almost no evolutionary development, mutations, of man since he appeared on this earth tens of thousands of years ago.   He has developed his brain and his skills, but these have not been evolutionary changes.  He is wired as he was at the dawn of man. 

So what happened when aboriginal man moved into a non-communal setting where he had to fend for himself?  How did he function?  Uprooted, he did what he had to do, he depended on his wits for survival and growth.   And so the "we" and "i" of communal life became the "I" of modern life.   Whether living on a farm, in a small village, or in a modern city, he has had to depend on himself.   He had to compete with others for his livelihood, especially once he left the farm. 

At some point also the way newborn babies were cared for and children raised changed because of the new lifestyle.   Except for the rich, where children were given over to the care of wet-nurses and nannies, babies were cared for pretty much as was "natural" until the advent of modern medicine and the establishment of hospitals.   As to being raised, for most children in the West, being inducted into adult life meant childhood labor, acting as an individual, not being part of a communal group that passed into adulthood together.   For those with money, they were not sent to work, but they passed through their lessons and education as individuals, competing with their peers.   In all cases, whether rich or poor, they were left totally adrift of the security of both parents and communal peers and instead needed to survive based on their own wits. 

And this has affected man terribly.   Some may be successful, powerful, rich, but they are at their core insecure, unhappy persons.   And of course the mass of people are not successful, powerful, or rich, but they are still at their core insecure, unhappy people because they are a product of our society. 

So if man is not wired for the world he has created, what do we do?  We can't change the world.   It is what it is.   There is no chance of reverting to the past, to a "back to the past" future.   

The only thing we can do is do what the Buddha and other prophets have taught:  change the way we relate to ourselves and the world around us.   Learn to accept things the way they are, know that you will be ok, safe, regardless what life throws your way because you have everything you need inside you to be at peace and happy, and thus be able to react to whatever you experience with dispassion, free of labels, free of the intervention of your mind.   

Obviously your mind will have other ideas.   It won't be agreeable to this way of looking at yourself and the world.   And so you must free yourself from your mind; all the emotions, judgments, cravings, and attachments that cause you pain and suffering are a product of your mind.   So say to them all, "Not me!"

And so you will rest undisturbed, and when you do, nothing offends, and when nothing offends there is nothing that interferes with you taking joy in each moment and having faith that you will be ok, safe.   Yes, there is something circular here, but that is typical of Buddhist thought.

This perspective will allow you to be in this world, interact with it, but respond to it in a spiritual way, not the way you've been trained and raised to do, through the mind.   This way of approaching life is not about separating yourself from the world; this is about changing how you interact with it.

_______________

*I use the word aboriginal not as a synonym for indigenous, but in an anthropological sense, denoting a simple, often hunting-and-gathering, village-oriented communal society.   Many such societies may make up a tribe or a people, but the societal unit is the village commune.   This is in contrast to indigenous people such as the Inca and Astec who developed complex civilizations that were not communal. 

Vaccine Passports Should Be Required

There is much controversy over whether airlines and other close-quarter non-essential venues can require proof of vaccination for entrance.   As a public health measure, not only should companies be able to require it, the government should mandate that vaccination is a prerequisite whether to boarding a plane or going to a movie or live theater or dining-in at a restaurant.   If you are not vaccinated, you potentially endanger the life of another person and so you must pay the price. 

Such restrictions on people who are not vaccinated are not without precedent.   Many schools require that children are current with their vaccinations, barring religious or health exceptions, in order to attend school.   And in states with mask mandates, people who don't wear a mask in enclosed venues, even essential ones like grocery stores, are denied entrance.

Is this step necessary to protect the public?  Yes. Despite the fact that the US vaccination percentage was increasing at a good pace, the number of new cases per day climbed again, due probably to a combination of spring break travel and the newer variants spreading more quickly, together with people not wearing masks.   Recently the number of daily vaccinations has decreased.   It cannot be said at this point that the virus is under control. 

From a public health perspective, the virus must be brought under control.   The human cost of the pandemic in the United States has been huge.   In another month, we are likely to be at 600,000 deaths.   This virus cannot be beaten by half measures. 

The problem we face is two-fold.   One problem is that a sizable portion of the population (surveys show a range from 25 - 39%) is hesitant or has actually indicated that it will not be vaccinated.   The problem is worst among Republicans, those in rural areas, Blacks, and those aged 18-49.   The other problem is that again a sizable portion of the population (anywhere from 15% to 50%) refuses to wear masks and take other measures to reduce the potential of both transmitting or becoming infected with the virus.  While there is no data on the overlap of these two groups, it is probably more likely than not that these two population subsets are largely coterminous and therefore especially dangerous. 

If such a large percentage of the adult population does not get vaccinated and if a similar proportion refuse to wear masks in public, we will not be able to get the virus under control.   The numbers will surely go down, but there will remain a sizable risk and masks with social distancing will continue to be required of all.   A return to normalcy is not in the offing. 

Given this underlying public health and social problem, which is created not by the virus but by the attitudes of people, people who are not vaccinated should be refused entry to all non-essential enclosed spaces, such as airplanes, restaurants, and theaters. 

But the reader may ask, if everyone has to wear a mask on airplanes or in a theater, why should being vaccinated be required?  Two reasons.  First, many people are careless about how they wear their masks, not covering their nose, so they may be wearing a mask but still present a risk.   Second, at least in planes, people often take off their mask for a period of time either to eat, drink, or just because they're tired of wearing a mask; you can bet the same would happen in a dark theater.    And as a side note, we all long for a return to normalcy.  If everyone in an airplane or theater was vaccinated, we wouldn't have to wear masks.   What a relief that would be.

People may have a right not to get vaccinated or not to wear masks, but they don't have a right to thereby endanger the health and lives of others.   Thus if you insist on this personal choice, you have to accept the limitations placed on your movements for the public safety. 

Reform the Filibuster

The filibuster's purpose used to be to achieve an important government objective - foster bipartisan compromise and thus have measures pass with support from both parties.   Filibusters today have a totally different purpose - to prevent the majority from moving forward with its agenda with absolutely no intention of compromise and support. 

Understandably, therefore, talk is rife among Senate Democrats (not just the progressives) to kill the filibuster.   It is hardly likely in this highly partisan atmosphere that voting rights legislation, or any of the key Biden initiatives will be able to get the key 60 votes, which would require 10 Republicans in this Congress, needed to move a measure to a vote. 

The filibuster was designed in and for a different political world.   One where the partisan lines were not so hardened, where party discipline was not so strict.  In the current atmosphere, the filibuster promotes minority rule.   That goes against the principles of our democracy. 

But rather than kill it, i would suggest the following reforms.   First, require that those choosing to filibuster work for it, as in the original rules.   Require that Senators truly filibuster, hold the floor with non-stop speeches.   And second, require that the filibuster end within a given time frame, perhaps a few days.   If negotiations for a bipartisan compromise are not successful, the majority should be able to pass it's desired legislation.  That would allow opponents to make their point and encourage negotiations, but it would not allow minority rule.