Letter to Editor | Mother Nature is a great equalizer

— from Tom Eversole —

Mother Nature is a great equalizer, and her corona virus pandemic will move us to a new normal. As in past adversities, survivors will adapt their society and governments. 

This experience may take Americans “back to the future,” embracing anew the original goal of the great American experiment. Colonists of all means fought for independence and established a representative democracy not for the wealthy but for the commonwealth.

Pandemics can change your perspective. For instance, welfare programs like unemployment pay, food stamps (SNAP) and public housing have been easy targets for mobilizing a constituency against people, who allegedly shirked their personal responsibility to get an education, a job, health insurance or off drugs.

On the other hand, those too big to fail, like banks, auto or airline companies, and soybean farmers have been considered worthy of federal welfare payments otherwise known as bailouts, tax relief and subsidies.

In a land of opportunity largely prescribed by advantage, America’s corona virus epidemic has made it clear that anyone can be vulnerable and need a safety net to assure access to health care, food, housing and/or financial security.  Folks formerly adverse to that idea may come to see merit in providing a health and financial safety net for everyone, including themselves.

Post-corona, government’s role in assuring a safety net for all individuals as well as employers, businesses, hospitals is clear. Both may be worthy of responsibly administered support for humanitarian and economic reasons. A healthy population is the engine of a prosperous economy.