Political vaccine

THE world continues to reel from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) — truly a pandemic of cataclysmic nature ravaging urban and countryside residents.

Our elected leaders have varying degrees of success and failure in dealing with Covid-19. The two common threads that runs though their thinking are to either reopen the economy now or wait for a vaccine while keeping quarantine and lockdown protocols.

At time of writing, there were 19,296,761 Covid-19 cases worldwide and 719,830 deaths. By today, Monday, this number will have increased.

The Philippines, for example, jumped from 119,460 ( August 6) to 122,754 ( August 7) — 3,294 in one day.

Close open, close open is child’s play — not for adults.

After a decision to reopen their economies, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Philippines experienced a ravaging resurgence of the virus. Hence, a change in quarantine protocol.

Dealing with life one day at a time is now the norm. But it is no way to run a business. Or a government.

Presidents, prime ministers and national leaders are on top of the political totem pole because the electorate trust that they will come up with workable solutions, not populist tweets or ad hoc decrees and proclamations.

Admitting defeat to an enemy that cannot be tweeted away, US President Donald Trump threatens to issue proclamations that he knows will be challenged in court for lack of legal and/or constitutional basis.

The self-described stable genius who takes pride in passing a dementia test announced he signaled a readiness to forge ahead and “give Americans the relief they need” if the Democrats “continue to hold the lapsed economic relief measures for millions of Americans hostage.”

At a news conference Friday evening at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump announced he was “preparing to sign executive orders that would pay unemployment benefits through the end of the year, offer eviction protections that have lapsed and also provide student loan relief.”

Like the much- touted and oft- repeated plan to replace Obamacare, details are missing.

The trillion- dollar questions posed by Democrats and Republicans remain unanswered.

Should direct payments of up to $1,200 be made to Americans? Would a moratorium on evictions from federally backed housing be extended? How much enhanced federal unemployment benefits would be sufficient? What steps are needed to safely reopen schools during the pandemic and how to help state and local governments deal with budget shortfalls during the outbreak?

Democrats were willing to lower their spending demands to $2 trillion from $3.4 trillion. The White

House declined. The Republicans proposed a $1-trillion plan instead.

A more fundamental question by both parties, however, is, “Who Cares?”

The over $2 trillion economic relief package — Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (Cares) Act was passed by Congress with overwhelming, bipartisan support. It was signed into law by President Trump on March 27, 2020.

It has expired.

The $1-trillion replacement bill by the US Senate — Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (Heals) — was presented to the chief, despite opposition from Senate leader Mitch McConnel on the inclusion of funding for a Federal Bureau of Investigation building in Washington, DC.

Invoking Divine guidance, Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer pleaded: “Meet us in the middle for the sake of America, meet us in the middle.”

Before the tee-off at Bedminster, the US Senate was in session.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said they “ought to stay until we get a deal.”

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney agreed. “People who are doing the negotiating need to be working around the clock to get it done,” he said. Clearly, no HEAL-ing can begin, Meanwhile, millions of workers and businesses in the most affected sectors — tourism, travel, entertainment and restaurants — face the probability, not just possibility, that the job loss may be permanent.

Unless, of course, a vaccine is discovered or a million more Americans die in the name of herd immunity egged on by the horde of mask-haters who insist on keeping America and businesses open as a matter of right. Give me liberty or give me debt! Then there’s the political vaccine, a change not just of leaders, but leadership.

Elections are to be held in November this year to elect a new or reelect the old president. The American electorate may decide to give the majority of seats in the House and Senate to the Democratic Party hoping a more informed, caring set of leaders will finally put a workable plan in place instead of just saying “it will vanish. It will go away.”

Then the better description for the hundreds of thousands of deaths will be, “It is what it was.”

In New Zealand, the Labor Party of Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern is running ahead of the National Party with a 53.5-percent support from the Kiwi electorate compared to 26.5 percent of the Judith Collinsled National with barely a month before the mid-September election.

With the Covid-19 virus contained and the immigration beast slain, Winston Peters’ New Zealand First has nothing left to fire up its base. Peters got the seats in Parliament fueled by fear of immigrants harming NZ culture and contempt for the establishment.

The coronavirus gave New Zealand the excuse to close its borders, effectively halting immigration, but now Peters is part of the establishment.

Talk about being a victim of its own success.

Keeping immigrants out does not easily translate to jobs a-plenty.

The world economy is a far cry from the humming globalized system before the pandemic; before Trump touted America First, declared war against China, Europe, and international world bodies within the United Nations.

New Zealand’s top three trading partners — China, Australia and the European Union — are mired in their own pandemic ponds.

Australia is going through its first recession in 30 years with a 19-yearhigh unemployment rate of 7.1 percent. Australia was also among the first country to reopen when the rest were still in lockdown mode. By then the economy had contracted 0.3 percent in the first quarter and a resurgence of coronavirus, especially in Victoria, will keep Australia in defense mode for at least two years.

Even Japan, NZ’s fifth-largest trading partner, has a similar leadership and pandemic problem. Shinzo Abe has been missing in action while his administration’s decision to reopen the economy mainly through the Go To Travel campaign caused a resurgence of Covid-19 cases.

The reported that “since the government lifted its state of emergency over the virus, the number of new cases has been on an upward trajectory — rising even more rapidly than the first wave of cases between late March and early May. In major metropolises such as Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka, it has become normal for the number of new cases to break records on an almost daily basis.”

Unlike Peters and Trump, Shinzo

Abe has breathing room. General elections to elect members of the House of Representatives is on or before Oct. 22, 2021, more than a year from now. By then a vaccine could be available worldwide, albeit expensive to administer individually – but it’s worth a shot.

China, on the other hand, continues to defy and dare the stable genius, matching fleeting tweets with fleets in the South China Sea, controlling Hong Kong, threatening Taiwan while continuing to use the power of investments, infrastructure and coalition building in Asia and Africa.

Europe, even Australia and New Zealand, practice the close-open game with economy and borders. Only this time, dangerous adults are at play. And the US?

In addition to the emergent border and quarantine wars between states, the Democrats want the Republicans to meet them in the middle to keep millions of Americans and businesses alive.

But what if the middle is nowhere? Hopefully, a vaccine will be available soon. Otherwise, the world needs to inoculate itself from the virus of current elected leaders who would rather sacrifice millions to enhance or ensure their chances of staying in power.

Talk about letting millions die to develop herd immunity instead of simply enforcing the proven pandemic protocols of wearing masks, keeping distance and observing quarantine procedures.

What the world needs now as the election approaches is a potent political vaccine: not just new leaders but responsible leadership.