These days, one would have to be living under a rock to not see the heavily partisan politics that exist within the United States. Add in Covid-19 to the mix and the partisan politics creates a crisis of it’s own.
Last month, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following statement in regards to the state and federal financial issues that Covid-19 has created.
“I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there’s no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of.”
Though he did not refer to any specific states in this initial statement, the subtle message is clear. He would rather let certain East Coast and West Coast states who normally vote blue (my home state of New York included) go bankrupt rather than provide badly needed financial support. Comedian Vic DiBitetto has a few things to say on this subject.
*Warning: the video below contains language that might be offensive to some viewers.
In an ideal world, politics would be about compromise and doing what is best for the nation. But we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a world in which some politicians look out for number one and/or only look out for their base. They don’t give two sh*ts about the rest of the country.
What Senator McConnell chooses to conveniently forget is that we are in a national crisis. If we are to stop Covid-19 and return to some semblance of normalcy, we need to work together. But we cannot work together if those in the halls of power choose partisan politics over the welfare of the nation.