Best and Worst of Times

Charles Dickens wrote in the opening of his powerful novel A Tale of Two Cities:  (modified)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, ….. it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”

America is at a crossroads and it is up to us to decide if we are in the Spring of hope or in the Winter of despair. We can continue the way things have always been and allow mistreatment of minorities to continue or we can listen to the voices of the thousands in the streets and head into a springtime of hope. Black Lives Do Matter and they should not be subjected to different treatment by law enforcement, the justice system, educators or employers. Income inequality does exist. Police brutality does exist; George Floyd was murdered.

The middle class is slowly eroding due to many factors. Some of those factors are a result of the lack of unions to look out for workers rights and benefits; as a result of strong anti-union laws, fewer workers have pensions, work guarantees and health care benefits. Lack of manufacturing jobs have also eroded the middle class taking away the entry level jobs which created a strong domestic manufacturing class into which many African Americans and immigrants found their first steps toward the American dream.  For some the American Dream has become a nightmare. No surprise that they are in the streets.

According to the Brookings Institution:  …“the top one percent alone holds more wealth than the [entire] middle class. They owned 29 percent—or over $25 trillion—of household wealth in 2016, while the middle class owned just $18 trillion.” Additionally, it is pointed out, only the top 20% have recovered from the great recession of 2008, for the rest, growth has been flat or regressed due to losses in jobs, lack of increases in incomes, decreased home values and the decline of the ability to save or invest.

Black and Hispanic unemployment figures have always been higher than that for the white population, even in times of high employment. Last hired, first fired is not a truism. It was true in the days of the Great Depression in the 1930’s and has continued to be true to this day.  The fact that many jobs are structured by seniority also affects the more recently hired.  Covid-19 has created a massive loss of jobs across many income levels. Over the last year, the average hourly wage was $11.73, while the Federal minimum hourly rate remained at $7.25/hour. The average salary, excluding benefits or housing in the US in 2019, was $69,181.  The average annual income for the top 1% is 1.3 million dollars.  One of the main drivers for the French Revolution (which is a part of the plot in the Dickens book noted above) were the extreme disparities in classes in that society.  The aristocracy was amazingly extravagant, throwing lavish galas, while the lower classes could be thrown into debtors’ prison for petty amounts or into the Bastille for minor offenses and lose any possessions they had.

So, we have income inequality, lack of equal access to jobs, adequate housing and education and lack of civil rights in many instances. Each of these concerns needs to be addressed so that our democracy can prosper and fulfill its promise. As I have pointed out in previous posts, access to adequate healthcare is also a significant struggle in our society.

According to the Sentencing Project, an African American male born in 2001 has a 1 in 3 chance of being jailed in his lifetime, while a Latino male has a 1 in 6 chance and a white male has a 1 in 17 chance.  Much of this discrepancy is due to poor legal representation, plea bargaining, mandatory minimum sentencing, over policing for drug crimes and inequities in the judicial system. Some reforms introduced over the last few years have begun to impact some of these numbers and many imprisoned for non-violent offenses or minor drug crimes are being released.  Hopefully this will be a start.

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Timely tidbits from here and there:

• Many Americans are wondering about the use of force by some paramilitary forces - without insignia - against protesters in the streets of the Nations’ Capitol – who is their commander or to whom do they report?
• Germanys’ Angela Merkel has declined to join the planned June meeting of the Group of Seven national leaders at Camp David, stating she fears the level of COVID-19 in the US. The meeting has now temporarily been postponed until the fall. 
• President Trump is still lobbying for President Vladimir Putin of Russia to be included in the G7; Putin is currently excluded due to international sanctions for his bad behavior regarding assignations on foreign soil and incursions into Ukraine, among other things.

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Total COVID-19 Statistics to date:

United States – Total number of cases: 1,916.237            

                           Total number of deaths:  110,041, about 6,341 more than last week

Maryland        -  Total number of cases:      56,770           

                           Total number of deaths:      2,702, about 200 more than last week.

In summary, the numbers nationally are increasing at a slightly lower rate both in deaths and incidence (about 154,000 new cases), while those in MD have decreased in total new deaths, but noted the numbers of cases increase (about 4,000 more)at a slower rate than last time or more than 500 daily.  Wear those masks, and social distance, everyone!

Some concluding thoughts:

This has been a tumultuous week, but I think some lasting good has come from it.  The youth, who have become used to mobilizing ever since Parkland, have turned out in force in streets across the country in cities and towns large and small.  We saw large, diverse crowds (in age, race, and ethnicity) marching with a single purpose.  If those marchers can become voters and activists, they can question some of the reasoning and racism of the older generations and, hopefully, change the world.

Many have also started to question the use of our military by the President.  Numerous military leaders, active and retired, have indicated that these actions (armed troops and armored vehicles stationed in the Nations’ Capitol and actively engaging the marchers – some with gas and pepper spray) have been implemented contrary to our Constitution.  There is no tradition of using American troops against Americans.

Recently, my grandson and I were looking at tombstones in an old churchyard, when we found the grave of a soldier from the Revolutionary War.  If you had asked that soldier why he fought, I would guess that one of his answers might be that he was fighting against tyranny.  Jefferson is quoted as saying: When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Here is another crossroad, which way will our country decide to turn – toward liberty or tyranny?

Until next week – Peace.