I'm Still Not Sure What To Make....

Oh my, JVL is mad. “The problem, you see, is not the 137,234 dead Americans.

It’s that Republicans might lose an election.” https://t.co/AMroHLVo9t

— Shannon Last (@shannon_last) July 16, 2020

...of American conservatism cannibalizing itself like this.

But what is truly disgraceful about this editorial is that it does evince a single, solitary real-world concern.

Not the mounting pile of corpses.

Not the economic devastation on working families.

No, here is the Wall Street Journal’s real-world concern: “if it continues Republicans will be routed in November.”

The problem, you see, is not the 137,234 dead Americans.

It’s that Republicans might lose an election.

"Well," I want to say, "it is the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal.  Up until now, were you confusing it with The Christian Century or perhaps The Catholic Worker?"

On the other hand:  the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

On the other OTHER hand, as Dr. Fauci strains to remind us, deaths from covid-19 are not the benchmark nor even the final word on this disease.  People are losing lungs, people are suffering organ system collapse, people are suffering consequences that may be with them the rest of their lives, as debilitating but not as visible as polio.  No one feared death from polio as much as they feared the crippling consequences of polio.

We're going to be thinking about covid-19 that way for a long time after we've forgotten the refrigerator trucks and the funerals no one could attend.

We're a long way from beginning to recognize what's happening.  Until we can do that, we can't begin to cope with it.  I see the videos daily of people screaming at strangers about wearing masks.  I understand their anxiety, their inability to cope with this, their fear.  We're going to have to do a lot of healing when this is over, and if the past is any guide, that healing is going to begin and end with massive nationwide denial.

The dead will not be the silent majority.  We will.  The monstrousness of our institutions, of our lies, of our denial of the humanity of others:  that is our national sin.  We're used to that.  Will we deny it again?  That is going to be the lasting problem, whether or not the Republicans lose an election.