In times of trouble, people usually look toward a leader. However, given the political situation in this country, many people are looking at the president’s way of handling this crisis with more backlash than ever.
The biggest thing that people are critiquing are his ideas about essentially reopening the country for business within two weeks, so early April. And unsurprisingly, this has faced a lot of
criticism. While the president is very focused on getting the economy running again, many
doctors, political figures and also the general public have judged this call. They think
that, while the economy is going to need to get back on its feet soon after this pandemic is over,
we should wait until there is a noticeable decrease in the number of cases before we
return to our daily lives. I must say that I agree with that. As a big fan of capitalism
myself, I totally understand where the president is coming from in terms of us trying to get
back to where the economy was before coronavirus took over our lives, but I think that it is
really important to ensure the safety of all the citizens in the country as well. We need to look more into today and less into tomorrow.
Also when the president had talked about not closing other businesses for the flu and
things like that, I think that this pandemic is very serious and should be treated as something to
be feared. While in terms of symptoms it is similar to the regular flu, given the circumstances, I think we should at least be careful and continue to practice the guidelines that the CDC recommends, and even the president himself had suggested limited numbers of people at gatherings.
Another gripe that I have heard is the stimulus package that would help to relieve people
who cannot work or really go out and do anything. The $2 trillion relief package has been debated in the Senate for a bit now and, oddly enough, many Democrats have a lot to say in opposition to the bill. Many are afraid that this will mean bailouts for large corporations like Walmart and the other giants in the world of consumerism. President Trump has tweeted his support for the bill earlier in the month, while many Washington Democrats have expressed their distaste for it. Personally, I think that they should just push that aside and pass the bill. This is a huge time in our history and we should really just focus on the people who will benefit greatly from the bill. Big government bailouts can be debated at a later date; we must focus on helping the people who need it most right now.
Quickly, before I wrap up: while writing I got word that Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has recently been confirmed to have COVID-19 and, while I imagine no one reading this has been in contact with Prime Minister Johnson, please just be careful and be safe.
Lydia Mardin can be contacted at
Lydia.Mardin@ksc.keene.edu
