Resolution of solution
COURIER L 18 IFE, JANUARY 1-7, 2021
OPINION
It has become cliche to express
how or why 2020 is a
morbidly awful year, but
cliches refl ect simple truths.
While 2020 is broadly seen as
the worst year in recent memory,
we shouldn’t forget other
years that qualify for runnerup
status.
For example, 2016, capped
off by Donald Trump winning
the presidency, was bad and,
unlike 2021, there was the terror
of the prospect of coming
years that would test the foundations
of our Republic.
While it’s hardly a sure
thing that 2021 will be better
than 2020, the prospects are
encouraging and much of the
outcome is in our control. The
fi rst necessary step was electing
Joe Biden. Hopefully the
next step will be Georgians
making Mitch McConnell
a “former” Senate Majority
Leader. Whether or not that
happens, for things to fundamentally
get better we will
still have to reassess what
governments should and can
do for and with us.
For decades, especially after
President Ronald Reagan’s
1980 election, regardless of
party, there has been the Gipper’s
mantra, “Government is
not the solution to our problem,
government is the problem.”
This is effective rhetoric
and a convenient scapegoat for
bad and abusive governance. It
further empowers the already
powerful and blames those
who suffer for their plight.
Has anyone actually tried to
lift themselves up by their
own bootstraps? For example,
if the average worker lacks
bargaining power to increase
wages in tandem with costs
and policy, makers won’t use
their legislative authority to
raise minimum wage requirements
those who lack shelter
or food can be labeled and
treated as failing rather than
it being seen as the system
failing them. Government being
stunted once stigmatized
as inherently incompetent becomes
ever more diminished
and reviled.
The year 2020 has shown
once again that how governments
handle things matter.
We need to restore a belief and
expectation in government to
care for people, since it is a
simple refl ection of our caring
for each other. The choices
governments make can mean
life and death and determine
the kind of life we are able to
live.
It’s not apples to apples, but
it’s certainly disheartening to
see how other countries have
handled 2020 and COVID-19.
In Australia and New Zealand,
they can safely hold concerts,
and European countries
cover lost wages, while in the
US-of-A we wait on a Trump
tantrum to determine the fate
of unemployment insurance
as millions more fall into poverty.
Locally, we’re somewhat
more fortunate. For example,
the legislature is acting to prevent
some avoidable human
suffering with its wide eviction
ban while the city’s vaccination
while still a work in
progress is double that of the
nation.
However, it must not stop
there. There must be greater
resolve than the typical New
Year’s resolution of losing
weight to get back a previous
pants size, New York’s City
and government should do all
it can to get back to its vaccination
capacity of 1947. That
year, in just under a month,
the city vaccinated 6 million
inhabitants against smallpox.
If anything like that can be
achieved, it’ll set the stage for
the government to do more for
its people. No, it will not result
in dystopian lines, regimented
clothes or other Randian fantasies
out there. I’m talking
about doing what our government
has already done and
what people still want such
as returning to free CUNY tuition
as it was until the 1970s.
There are other things that
can be done, but that will have
to wait until next year.
Mike Racioppo is the District
Manager of Community
Board 6. Follow him on
Twitter @RacioppoMike.
MIKE DROP
Mike Racioppo
A new year and a changed city
We’re headed into a new
year, and it’s been a few
weeks since I’ve written
my column. I was stuck in
two 13-hour Zoom meetings
of the Brooklyn Democratic
Party. Unfortunately, my issues
with party leadership
will once again have to be resolved
in court.
My fi rst column here observed
that none of us can
control the presidential election,
and I never found any
evidence that changed my
view on that matter. Closer to
home, I must admit that after
years of searching, I have yet
to see any democratic accountability
within the government
or politics of New York. That’s
sad and damning, but I’m confi
dent we’ll take a big step
forward in 2021, provided we
give Ranked Choice Voting
a chance and stick with the
matching funds and spending
limits imposed by our city’s
Campaign Finance Board system.
We are in the third or
fourth quarter of this long
coronavirus crisis. Eventually
we will come out of this
quarantine, eventually other
things will kill us and the social
distancing will be a distant
memory, but our way of
life will be changed.
New York City will come
back, Broadway will reopen,
we will have nightlife again,
but it will be different. Probably
we will never have the
same number of restaurants,
bars or dry cleaners that we
used to. Change is endemic everywhere:
we’re just a place
that embraces it better than
most. These changes we’re living
through have been a long
time coming: telecommuting
was a major topic twenty years
ago; the number of saloons in
New York has been declining
for over a century.
Let’s keep three things in
mind about this new world
we’re entering in this new
year.
First, we are probably more
atomized socially than humans
have ever been before.
It has never been easier to fi lter
away almost all the opinions
that you might fi nd uncomfortable
or inconvenient.
And the hermits of yore would
envy how easy it is for us to get
everything delivered now.
Second, with the decline
of public spaces, inequality is
less obvious to us than it was
before, even as it worsens considerably.
A larger number of
people are suffering in America
today than they have been
in many years, but by and
large they are deprived and
suffering alone and out of our
sight.
Our current social services
are not enough to help people.
The poorer a kid is, the more
of their education they missed
this year and the less likely
they are to ever make that up.
These are some of those inconvenient
facts it is now easier
than ever to ignore.
Third, the changes coming
in the future are even more severe
than what we’ve faced so
far. Coronavirus is an excellent
trial run for climate catastrophe!
Maybe, just maybe, we
are learning that we can radically
change our habits and
mindsets. We’re coming out of
one global challenge but still
in the thick of another. We can
solve it because we have to.
Nick Rizzo is a former Democratic
District Leader and a
political consultant who lives
in Greenpoint. Follow him on
Twitter @NickRizzo.
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo
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