Looking at the Numbers

Just killing time, but I figured since the press is making such a big deal about how many people in the US have tested positive for COVID-19 I'd look at what that really means when compared to others in the world.

 

Is it Time to Write Three Letters?

There is an old joke about the time Nikita Khrushchev took over the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin’s death.   Khrushchev was just settling into the big office in the Kremlin and beginning to make himself at home.  He was rummaging through Stalin’s massive desk when he came across a small drawer.  The drawer held only four items.  There were three sealed envelopes and a simple note on top.

The note read, “Comrade if you are reading this note it means I am dead and you have risen to the top of the Party and now control the entire union of socialist peoples.  Welcome to this position.  I’ve left you three simple letters to be opened only if there is a crisis that could topple you from power.  Take my advice and use it wisely.  Don’t open the letters until you actually need them.  Stalin.

Well, the first year came and went as Khrushchev consolidated power within the party and across the USSR.  But eventually, there came a crisis when the summer wheat harvest failed due to a severe drought.  Khrushchev struggled with how to assure the people they would make it through this crisis when he remembered the notes from Stalin that remained in his desk.  With trembling hands, he opened the first note.

It read simply, “Create a 5-year plan.”  Of course, he thought, organize the people to work through this crisis and prepare so it won’t happen again.  So, he went to The Politburo to explain how they would turn the people out to harvest while they changed the industry to modernize the collective farming system.  In five-years, the Soviet Union would lead the world in wheat production.

At the end of the five years, the Soviet Union was no better off than it was at the beginning.  Despite all the government plans, all the new equipment, and all the work on consolidating the collective efforts wheat production still lagged behind the needs of the nation.  His foes in The Politburo had begun to mumble that perhaps it was time for Nikita to visit one of the Gulags.  Again, Khrushchev turned to his old mentor Joseph Stalin as he opened the second letter.

It read, “Blame your predecessor for the failures, I am dead and no harm can come to me.”  That evening, as Nikita addressed The Executive Committee he detailed all the graft and corruption he could remember under Stalin’s regime, he talked about how the purges had weakened the Motherland and led to the great Patriotic war that cost the nation so many of its young men and woman and the fear that was so persuasive then was still limiting the nation’s ability to recover.  He promised to erase those evil memories and open the Soviet Union to become the truly Communist ideal Vladimir Lenin had promised.  The Politburo raised as one to stand behind their leader as they purged the memory of Joseph Stalin from their psyche.

Unfortunately, as history will attest, there was another crisis.  Again, Khrushchev returned to the small drawer to open the third, and final letter from Stalin.  With confident hands that Stalin would once more recommend a way to maintain his power, he opened the envelop to find the words of his mentor.

It said, “Write three letters.”

What we’ve seen in the Presidents of this century is how this joke plays out in real life.  Each of the three men who’ve been President have used this advice in their communication with the nation.  Each has come up with some long-term plan to shape the nation in their vision (or the vision of the people who got them elected), and each has when the need arose. blamed their predecessor for the failures discovered during their administration.  The only question that remains is it time for Trump to write his three letters?

Since his surprise upset of the anointed one of the Democratic Party; there has been a non-stop drumbeat for Trump’s removal.  For those with so much vested in this mantra, there can be no turning back.  In the immortal words of Rosanne Rosannadanna “If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.”  It is as if any idea of working with a self-promoting outsider is so far from their political model as to be inconceivable.  An old marketing cliché comes to mind with its approach.  “Let’s run it up the flag pole and see who salutes?”  Unfortunately for the opposition -- President Trump has far out-marketed them and they seem incapable of actually coming up with any new ideas on how to “out-America” this Make America Great Again President.  In fact, it is too often their approach to condemn the value of the nation.

It seems the left has spent so much time and effort to get everyone in their party aligned with their groupthink, and have vilified the opposition for so long they can’t figure out how to deal with someone who loves himself so much that he must vilify those who vilify him.  They are used to traditional politicians who’ve not responded in kind to the accusations against them.  Unfortunately for the political elite, they don’t relate to the common blue-collar worker in the same way Trump does.  The blue-collar workers understand his approach, and because of that they are vilified by the elite, for that is what elites do.  They look down their noses at the middle class.

Perhaps it’s because their globalist view aligns with companies like 3M where there is no moral imperative to do the right thing for the nation?  For them, the idea of a nation-state is antiquated and should be replaced by a single world government for which they would be key beneficiaries.  For them, at least it seems to me, their worldview of America more closely aligns with Iran’s view than with the average middle of the road American.  America is not filled with people trying to make the best of their lives and live in peace and harmony with their neighbors.  It is filled with racists, homophobes, and xenophobes who are all on the verge of joining some white supremacist group. 

This was pointed out to me by a devout progressive about 10-years ago when, after Barrack Obama swept into office by a significant majority, there was a small political movement called the “Tea-Party” that argued for a balanced budget and limited government spending.  This young liberal pointed out the only reason this group existed was that the recently elected President was Black, and he had personally seen the racist signs they stood behind.  Through the Obama administration’s reign, we see time and again where the President and his supporters would use the claim of racism to counter any opposition to his policies.  Unfortunately for us, this was not the unifying approach many of us who honestly try and view others as individuals hoped for.  In fact, it has become a central part of the progressive playbook.

Even with the economy in shambles, unless the Democrats are willing to find a candidate who can go toe to toe with President Trump and persuade the middle class he/she has their best interests at heart I don’t think we will see much change in November.  In fact, I’d guess there is a better than even chance the Democrats lose the House, which won’t necessarily be a good thing unless those septuagenarians who’ve held office for half their lives are retired at the same time.

So, as much as those who’ve made it their life’s work to point out every narcissistic mistake the President makes I’m not convinced he needs to write his advice to 46 just yet.

Through a Modern Looking Glass

“The Red Queen shook her head. "You may call it 'nonsense' if you like," she said, "but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!”

Lewis Carrol, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

As Alice found as she stepped through the Looking Glass, we are living in a world turned topsy-turvy where the normal rules seem not to apply.  But still, some would have us believe that they, and only they, know what is true and what is not, and thanks to the explosion of media venues, social and otherwise, we are inundated with those opinions of reality.

“The President waited too long to inform the nation.”

“The President overreacted to the threat, and is racist.”

“If you’re not eating at Chinese restaurants you are a racist.”

“The virus is not serious, live your lives as you would normally.”

“The Chinese did a great job to curtail the virus. We need to learn from them.”

“The President sent all our supplies to China!”

“The President won’t send us enough ventilators.”

“I’m not hoarding ventilators, I’m stockpiling them for when they are needed.”

“Why doesn’t the President tell us what is going on?”

“Why does he have to have all these daily briefings?”

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“We won’t air his comments.”

“His support has been excellent.”

“Why does the President mock the media?"

"Why does the media mock the President?"

“Why doesn’t he listen to his advisors.”

“How could his advisors give him such bad advice?”

On and on the talking heads talk.  Their political views intact, their opinions unchanged, their self-righteousness never in doubt.  How do we create such characters?  It would be beneficial if we could simply be honest about the agenda of each talking head, but then we think they are.

“Alice laughed, ‘There’s no use trying.’ she said. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’

‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen.  ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day.  Why sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’”

 Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There