We’ve forgotten good

“We have met the enemy and he is us,” cartoonist Walt Kelly’s philosophical opossum Pogo opined over 50 years ago. A good slogan for the inept way the current pandemic has been mishandled by the president and his political cohorts. Billions have been funneled to large corporations while unemployment checks to those in need have been bungled and delayed.

What disturbs me most is how the crisis is being used to further widen the divide between the haves and the have-nots. Many people are unable to feed themselves and their families while corporate America feasts on the bounty of the bailout that has sent stock values soaring.

New York has been ground zero once again. Tens of thousands dead. Hospitals overwhelmed. Refrigerated semi-trucks used as makeshift morgues as ICUs disgorge the dead. First responders pushed to the limits.

Yet when New York’s governor asked for financial assistance to help offset the financial devastation resulting from the pandemic, Mitch McConnell suggested the state file for bankruptcy. After all, why should the federal government bail out New York or any other state crippled by the pandemic? Why indeed?

Have we forgotten what this country was built upon? E pluribus unum. From the many, one. In the beginning, we were a motley collection of independent states that banded together for the good of all, for the common weal. Now, when we need each other more than ever, are we to turn our backs on those who need our help the most?

When violent hurricanes devastate the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, do we ask why we should help those affected? When deadly tornadoes ravage the Midwest and Southeast, do we ask why the homeless need our help? What has led us to this position of selfish insularity and disregard for the suffering of others? A lack of compassionate leadership at the top. The moral black hole in the Oval Office. The singular self-centered venality of President Donald J. Trump. DAVID ELI COCKCROFT

Little Rock