CommentsALPERN AT LARGE--In a year with an impeachment, a pandemic, civil unrest involving the police and minority rights, and a bitterly divisive election season, it isn't hard to conclude there will be fighting.
As in physical violence (amazing but grateful there hasn't been more), major political conflicts and accusations of political malfeasance and voter suppression, and even families torn asunder by political differences:
1) As has been the case for some time, civil unrest in Portland continues, but now the Washington Post reports that there is fighting between militias, in particular the left-wing Antifa and right-wing Proud Boys while the police stand by.
Again, it's to be both cherished and appreciated that no deaths have occurred so far in these clashes (which are likely to continue, with lots of outsiders egging them on) between the far left and the far right, but both the cultural and political heat is keeping up with the summer heat.
The debate over what is "worse", the police shooting of another black man in the back in Kenosha, Wisconsin or the wanton destruction of property and the injuring of innocent police officers in Denver, appears pretty silly...they're BOTH obviously horrible.
The Democratic National Convention didn't mention the unrest much but did seem to be focused on unity. How the Republican National Convention will address the urban strife is as of yet uncertain, but a similar focus on unity is also hoped for. Do we really want to be a nation in which left-wing and/or right-wing militias are the new norm?
2) The US Postal Service (USPS) is being kicked around like a soccer ball to make political points on both sides. Democrats fear voter suppression by underfunding the USPS prior to what will be a very large mail-in voter effort by many states to minimize COVID-19 exposure potentially caused by in-person voting lines. Republicans, including President Trump, are accusing the USPS of being a vehicle for widespread voter fraud.
A recent House bill just passed with 26 Republican votes to block any operational or service changes as reported by NPR until January, and with a $25 billion price tag. NPR also reports that Republicans are pushing back and claiming the mail issue is a conspiracy theory.
Still, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was a Republican fundraiser, claims that long-term viability of the USPS is at risk because of the service's financial losses. And the fact-checking website Snopes does report that over 12,000 mail boxes were removed from 2011-2016 because they were underused, so the suggestion that the USPS might need to tighten their operations may be a financial, and not a political one.
Fortunately, DeJoy--while reporting removal of roughly 700 mailboxes--promised Congress that operations will not affect what is predicted to be a large rise in mail-in balloting. Whether that promise is kept remains to be seen, as the aforementioned House bill is likely to go nowhere in the Senate and would be vetoed by President Trump if it got to his desk.
One way or another, this fight will NOT (and maybe should NOT) go away. As someone who has done mail-in voting for years, and as someone who helped promote contacting California federal electeds to reverse the loss of mail boxes a few years ago (before Trump), it's recommended to vote early, and to object to the proper House and Senate politicians of any oft-used mail boxes that suddenly disappear.
3) The COVID-19 virus continues to divide the nation with respect to how we should respond and live our lives, and it's quite the fight!
By September 12th, it's calculated that 195,000 Americans will die from this virus, but CDC Director Robert Redfield was still continuing his strong push for reopening schools and childcare facilities Colleges are opening, and then reverting to online classes due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
The fight over the impacts on children being kept home from school, versus the impacts of going to school and wearing masks for hours on end, is as nightmarish and futile an argument as any...although the definite risks to older teachers is probably easier to agree on.
New Zealand locked down and appeared to defeat the virus, and now is postponing its election until the more recent surge in cases is brought to bear, while Sweden's cases are decreasing with no lockdown...but after a much higher death rate than its neighbors.
Although the use of plaquenil is still a highly-divisive issue in our nation (less so in other areas of the world), the FDA-approved emergency authorization for the use of Coronavirus survivors' plasma for COVID-19 patients is hopefully less so particularly because this plasma is already being used when available with considerable success.
Yet the arguments of "Trump showed no leadership, and both Americans and the economy died" and "blue state governors showed no leadership, and both Americans and the economy died" will be heard again and again, perhaps long after the November 3rd election date.
4) Even families are torn asunder more than usual, with politics creating rivalries that to the general public might appear humorous...until one realizes that once beloved siblings and spouses are having their lives destroyed.
Donald Trump's sister, Federal Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, apparently called her brother a liar with "no principles." This according to the president's niece, Mary Trump, who just published a "tell-all" book that exposes deep divisions between members of the Trump Family.
Complicating the issue is the report that Maryanne Trump Barry did not attend the recent funeral of her brother, Robert Trump, and that Mary Trump secretly (and, perhaps, illegally and/or immorally) recorded her aunt for over 15 hours, including the insult against President Donald Trump.
Not exactly what we saw with the Kennedy and Bush dynasties, who usually were pretty close.
And not exactly a good thing for any family to endure.
5) On a final, perhaps more sobering note, White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway will leave her White House post at the end of the month, and her husband (and ardent Trump critic) George Conway will withdraw from the anti-Trump Lincoln Project...because they wish to unite to keep their family together while focusing on their children.
For those unaware of this interesting "power couple", Kellyanne Conway is a loyal Trump supporter who might even speak at the Republican National Convention. George Conway, her husband, is a fiery critic of President Trump, and the Lincoln Project he is leaving was formed by anti-Trump Republicans to influence the upcoming election and party politics beyond it.
Both George and Kellyanne Conway have their supporters and haters, and there is no shortage of Americans wondering how the heck they stayed together as long as they have.
But clearly the threat of their daughter Claudia, age 15, to seek emancipation from her parents and with many negative things tweeted about both parents, suggests that perhaps our children are the ones suffering from the constant fighting all around them.
Even if both parents agree on being pro- or anti-Trump, or on being "pro-police" or "anti-police", the pandemic has negatively impacted all of our lives, in one way or another. Yet it's hard not to conclude that our nation's children have been hurt the most. Childhood innocence has been sacrificed on the altar of adult issues, feelings, and passions.
These fights really shouldn't have to be children's business or worries, but we've MADE it their business and worry. Heck, now they can't even enjoy playdates, dances, and proms! No summer vacations, and no sleepovers with their friends.
Some might think that the fighting will reduce after the November 3rd election, or after the vaccine to the COVID-19 virus is out...but it's not hard to conclude that the fighting will NOT end any time soon, and that it might even get worse.
Which suggests that those most likely to get hurt will not be the adults reading this, but rather the children who really would rather this all just go away.
(CityWatch Columnist, Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 8-9 years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach and Planning Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of the MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
-cw
