This commentary was written by Will Patten, president of Back to Basics Vermont, Inc.
Our country has been blessed with strong leadership in our times of great need. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., for instance. But, facing two existential threats in climate change and the Covid pandemic, along came Donald Trump, a seriously compromised individual. When we most needed a strong hand on the wheel of government, he proceeded to drive us into the ditch. It is now clear to me that decades will be spent overcoming his time in the White House. Here’s how I came to that conclusion:
First, there are no longer truths that we hold to be self-evident. Journalists, our providers and protectors of truth, are being overwhelmed by the greed of the media, from The New York Times to QAnon. Opinion now crowds out news and conspiracies enthrall even the rational among us. Facts are fungible. Science is disrespected. Bias becomes a religion and religion becomes a weapon. Without truth, we are rudderless.
Second, the pandemic gave us cover for poor performance and the diligence with which we built this society has given way to a forlorn acceptance of dysfunction. Political and economic dysfunction. As supply fails to meet demand, we lower our expectations for excellence and a Covid hangover justifies the behavior of slackers.
Third, our workers have “spit the bit,” no longer to be harnessed to an economy that steadily destroyed their dignity. The command-and-control workplace is history but, in its wake, more and more of us cannot afford housing, health care, education or children. Our society that was built on hope is becoming a society of despair.
Fourth, public health and the health of the biosphere demand nationally coordinated urgent attention. But respect for government and the rule of law are at all-time lows. These two crises that threaten our very existence have been trivialized for political gain.
Donald Trump has been, and continues to be, a great catastrophe for the nation. We sit, as migrants in a homeless shelter, waiting for someone to take the wheel. Joe Biden has shepherded some very good administrative changes. But he is not the one who will get us up and running, back on the highway.
History tells me that societies reinvent themselves after great catastrophes. The Civil War, Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam and the civil rights movement all resulted in significant societal change for the better.
So, I am confident that, in the words of the late, great Otis Redding, “A Change is Gonna Come.” It’s up to us to make that happen.