A New Set of Values

A crisis tends to focus the mind. It tends to point to weaknesses in value systems, as-well-as societies. In the United States, we are witnessing this at a frightening speed. This is now happening among neighbors and family. For example, how many of you are calling relatives more often? How about checking on neighbors? (Watch for those six feet in between.) have you called a friend you have not in decades? Maybe, donate or volunteer to keep others fed.

Even at a policy level what was unacceptable even forty days ago, is now the norm. We are talking of essentially universal basic income. This is something that conservatives were against, until these extraordinary circumstances. Still, excuses are rife, the reason why the administration did not take the World Health Organization test kits is that they produced high positives, I kid you not, that is the excuse. We’d rather have false positives, more quarantines and data, instead of flying blind. We are essentially flying blind, even as we climb the exponential curve.

But at the most basic, we are going to emerge as a far different society. This is global incidentally, but let’s concentrate on the US. People in the States have ignored other aspects of life for far too long. These include things like nature and family. Why? Low wages, no sick leaves, and a weak safety net mean people work two and three jobs just to barely survive.

This is not just the service workers preparing your burgers and fries. It is also a middle class that feels it still has to work seventy to eighty-hour…