Are we better off?
We move forward together, doing the work of justice, democracy, and peace. Everyone is essential, and any of us are only truly better off if we are all, all of us, truly better off.
Are you better off now than you were four years ago? That’s a typical political campaign paradigm, one we’ve seen repeated at least since its powerful success in bringing the Reagan administration to power decades ago. The latest incarnation asks us to compare our status now to 2020.
Leaving aside, for a moment, the blatant self-centeredness of this trope, and the narrowness of well-being as an economic indicator, for most Americans the answer would be a resounding “yes.” In spring of 2020, the Covid pandemic was increasing its rage. It seems so long ago, a kind of hazy curtain drawn between then and now. But it was awful, especially in pandemic epicenters. Uncertainty and unemployment ruled; hospitals were overwhelmed. Across the country, we were losing loved ones. Businesses shut down. Schools closed, kids sent home, parents scrambling to figure out the logistics.
As this tragedy unfolded, it laid wide open for all to see the inequities baked into our economy. Jobs that had sick leave and jobs that did not. “Essential workers” who had to keep meat packing plants and grocery stores open with little protection. Medical professionals reviled, threatened, having to treat those who attacked their integrity and profession. Overcrowded, under-staffed elder care and rehab facilities that could not keep our most vulnerable loved ones safe. Parents who could provide their kids with work spaces and high speed internet for remote school; kids who had to keep their cameras off, or find free wifi somewhere, or just drop out.
We swore, didn’t we, that we would remember these lessons, these insights into who we are, and make it better. We elected a team promising to “build back better,” and by many measures, they have done exactly that. Weathering supply chain issues, and implementing policies to mitigate the worst of them; rocking through high inflation back to a point, now, where wage growth outpaces the inflation rate. Unemployment at historic lows. Rapid growth in GDP, much more than the previous administration bragged about even before the pandemic.
So many inequities remain; we are by no means done with this project. And new crises arrived in the meantime. The loss of protection for a full range of reproductive care has cost lives and livelihoods. Wars in Europe and the mid-East continue to devastate. The climate crisis continues.
The struggle between narratives of despair and fear vs. narratives of hope and action continues, too. Too often they are heavily salted with mis- and disinformation. If we truly want to understand how now compares to four years ago, we must insist on facts and get out of our bubbles. We must listen as much or more than we talk. And we must reject all overly-simplified stories and all overly-fantastic promises.
We move forward together, doing the work of justice, democracy, and peace. Everyone is essential, and any of us are only truly better off if we are all, all of us, truly better off.
Thank you for your company on this journey.