Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
We are so close to putting the pandemic in the rearview mirror. Democrats collectively step on a rake ... and join me on the Highway To Hell.
Some personal news: Later this month, I am turning 50 years old, which is if I’m honest, a bit terrifying. When I was a kid, people who turned 50 were old. However, I’m trying to look on the positive side of things and view it as a reason for celebration. So with that in mind, I am for the month of March offering a special discount to subscribe to Truth and Consequences. You guessed it, $50 a year for a subscription or $5 a month. It will be in effect for the entire month. If you’re a subscriber who paid at the higher rate, drop me a line and I can extend your membership a few months.
Also, for every new subscription I receive, I will be donating 10 percent of the proceeds to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. This is a cause that, unfortunately, has a great deal of meaning for me. Twenty-five years ago, my best friend committed suicide. He should be celebrating his 50th birthday on April 1, 2021. Suicide is unusually preventable. People who take their own lives often act spontaneously and can frequently be talked out of harming themselves. That’s why having access to suicide prevention tools can be so essential for saving lives. Please do consider subscribing, and even if you don’t, consider a donation to AFSP or any other organization focused on suicide prevention.
Vaccines For Most … More COVID For A Few
Over the past week, there have been three excellent pieces of news in the fight against COVID-19. President Biden announced earlier this week that a ramp-up in production would mean that there will be enough vaccine for every American by the end of May. This comes on the heels of FDA approval last week of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which can be provided in one shot and doesn’t need to be stored at super-low temperatures. The third piece of positive news is personal: my mother was vaccinated today! She is about to turn 80, so I could not be more excited.
The US vaccination story is perhaps the most surprising aspect of this country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. After a year of unending screwups, we’ve finally gotten something very right. Check out the chart below.
Here’s what the specific numbers look like: The US has vaccinated 23.76 per 100 people, which is fourth-best in the world and 7 times better than the global average of 3.45 per 100. The US is also doing 3 times better than the European Union, which is 7.7 per 100.
That comes on the heels of the fact that the COVID vaccine was developed in less than a year, which is an almost unmatched speed for a public health crisis. The Biden Administration deserves enormous credit for clearing out the obstacles to mass distribution, but they also inherited a vaccine ready to be injected into people’s arms. That is a tribute to American ingenuity.
Of course, the flip side of this argument is that more than half a million Americans have died from COVID-19. Had we had even a semi-competent president in 2020, many of those lives would have been spared. As I wrote last week, we have become far too inured to mass death in this country and far too accepting of public policies that put lives at risk. Indeed, it’s hard to think of many things more dismaying than the announcement this week by Texas Governor Greg Abbott that he is ending the state’s mask mandate and “all businesses of any type are allowed to open 100%.”
He is taking this action even though less than 7 percent of Texans have been vaccinated and close to 90% of state residents say they regularly wear masks. Hopefully, that number will remain high, but with Abbott’s announcement, it seems inevitable that more than a few will decide it’s time to leave their masks at home.
The worst thing about Abbott’s decision is that Texas has seen this movie before. Over the summer, after the state had weakened public health measures and opened up the economy too soon, the state saw a “summer surge” in new cases. It was that uptick that prompted Abbott to impose a mask mandate in the first place. Now, with the finish line nearly in sight, Abbott is not just letting the state’s guard down; he is putting in place policies that most likely will get people killed. It’s downright criminal.
On some level, I get it (even if I’m convinced that Abbott is doing this to distract attention from the massive errors around the state’s deep freeze). It’s been a year of this, and we’re all sick of it. I hit my pandemic wall about a month ago, and February 2021 was one of the hardest months that I can remember in a very long time. We’ve all had it. But we are also SOOOO close to normalcy. Two months from now, I think there’s a reasonable chance that we will be living in a very different, much better, and far happier America. Think of how much better it would be if all of us got there together.
Democrats Do Something Dumb
As a political pundit, I think Democrats often get a bum rap. The party's public image is often that they are weak, unwilling to stand up for what they believe and worry too much about optics rather than how to wield power most effectively. Some of these criticisms are legitimate. But, Democrats have also won the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections. They did an impressive job of negatively defining Donald Trump and the Republican Party (which allowed them to take back the House, Senate, and White House in 2020) and, as a general rule, are actually better at political messaging than Republicans.
Having gotten that out of the way, I do have a question about the decision this week by Senate Democrats to narrow eligibility for stimulus checks in the COVID-relief bill: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE THINKING?
Here are the details from the Washington Post:
President Biden has agreed to narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 stimulus payments in his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, a concession to moderate Senate Democrats as party leaders moved Wednesday to lock down support and finalize the sweeping legislation.
… Under the changes agreed to by Biden and Senate Democratic leadership, individuals earning $75,000 per year and couples earning $150,000 would still receive the full $1,400-per-person benefit. However, the benefit would disappear for individuals earning more than $80,000 annually and couples earning more than $160,000.
That means singles making between $80,000 and $100,000 and couples earning between $160,000 and $200,000 would be newly excluded from seeing any benefit under the revised structure Biden agreed to.
… Around 12 million fewer adults and 5 million fewer children would get the stimulus payments under the new Biden-Senate compromise, according to preliminary estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. About 280 million Americans in total — 200 million adults and 80 million children — would still be eligible for the checks under the new structure.
This move was made as a concession to Senate moderates like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who wanted the stimulus checks to be more narrowly targeted. I understand that some concessions need to be made and that the vast majority of Americans will still receive $1,400. But of all the ways to trim the COVID bill, this was not the place to do it. In approving this change, Democrats are literally taking money out of Americans' hands - and not just any Americans, but actual voters. From merely a political standpoint, this makes no sense. If moderate Democrats want to demonstrate fiscal responsibility (which is a pretty futile exercise when you’re growing the deficit by $1.9 trillion), take it out of somewhere else in the bill. Better yet, don’t do that at all because, for example, no voter will notice if instead Democrats took a few billion out of the pot of funds for state and local government. They are more likely to care, however, if you just took $1,400 out of their pocket. Granted, this is a small number of people, and maybe it won’t be enough to cost Democrats their vote, but why would you take that risk when you absolutely do not have to, and you gain nothing politically?
This is precisely the kind of stuff that makes liberal activists crazy. It’s performative centrism that, rather than bolster the party’s political profile actually hurts it. Democrats often get too much guff from their fellow travelers for supposed political missteps, but on this one, they deserve all the abuse they get.
What I’m Writing, Reading, Watching and Listening To
Writing
Earlier this week I wrote about why the criticisms of Joe Biden’s handling of Saudi Arabia, and the role of Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, are off-base. On Wednesday I wrote about the latest examples of “cancel culture.”
Reading
This is a few weeks old but excellent piece by Ian Milhiser on a few ways to reform the filibuster without scrapping it altogether. A slightly terrifying article in the New York Times on climate change may be changing the gulf stream with potentially catastrophic consequences. On the flip side, there’s some very good news in the fight against malaria. Dahlia Lithwick has an interesting take on the response to Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment scandal. It’s always worth reading David Shor’s thoughts on American politics. It seems like kind of a big deal that the American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying arm for the oil industry, is endorsing carbon pricing.
Watching/Listening
I have long been a sucker for Internet rabbit holes and this week I hit a goldmine! I was listening to a Sirius XM show on Bruce Springsteen’s best live covers and I heard the tail end of him and the E Street Band performing a version of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” in Australia - and my lord does this rock. If you ever needed evidence of the goosebump-inducing musical power of guitar-driven rock backed by a kick-ass horn section, the chorus of this song will handily do the trick.
There must be something about Australia that sparks the creative juices for Bruce because this version of the BeeGees “Stayin’ Alive” is something else. It also says something about his ability to take any song and turn it into something uniquely Springsteenesque. This isn’t a cover song; it’s a reimagining.
Going back a few years, I remember buying the EP cassette on which I first heard his cover of Jimmy Cliff’s song “Trapped.” (True story). I never get tired of hearing this song and the way he slows the tempo down and then builds up to a crescendo is one of the many things that makes him such a dynamic live performer.
I’m not sure if this qualifies as one of the E Street Band’s best covers but watching Bruce teach the band how to play Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell” - a song the band had clearly never performed or rehearsed - and then produce a memorable version is something to behold.
I’m quite partial to this cover of “Purple Rain” because I was at this concert! It came days after Prince died and it was an indelibly emotional rendition of a truly majestic song. And the Nils Lofgren guitar solo, which builds off of Prince’s legendary solo on the original song but takes it into some new and interesting directions, is gorgeous.
Hi Michael. I love your writing. And yes, I subscribed at the higher rate. I don't know if you need any more information to identify my account. But every little bit helps, so thanks and a tip of the hat!
I followed the link to Springsteen's coverage of "Highway to Hell," and also came across his version of INXS' "Don't Change." The Boss crushes it while still reminding us what a great band INXS was.