200401 Unity is What Unity Does
“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The principles stated in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution set the parameters for the rest of the agreement established between the people of the United States and their government. Those principles apply to everyone, no matter what their role in life is or what social/political place they hold. In a time of national crisis, the call to unity and behavior that promotes the general welfare rather than hoarding one’s self-interests – whether personal, social, or political, is not only the true test of a nation but also of the character of every single one of its citizens.
We have seen the best and worst of the country since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe it is time to take stock of ourselves and our leadership. Maybe it is time to learn from disruptive and selfish behaviors and emulate the unifying and selfless ones. In truth, unity is what unity does, not what it claims to be.
The story of what the Epoch Times accurately calls the Chinese Communist Party Virus (CCP virus) broke on December 31st . [ https://www.theepochtimes.com/giving-the-right-name-to-the-virus-causing-a-worldwide-pandemic-2_3277200.html ] The Chinese government had kept the situation secret for six weeks. During that time, they censured media reporting and arrested those that tried to get the warnings out. Even since the Wuhan outbreak was exposed, they have continued to be uncooperative to the point of repeatedly propagandizing false data.
Within six days of the news, the Trump administration’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a travel notice for Wuhan. By the end of that week, with China still withholding vital data, the CDC issued a Level 1 travel advisory. Five days later, they began health entry screenings at airports in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. Four days later the CDC activated its emergency operations center. Still, the world was struggling to get data from the CCP. In spite of everything, including early and continuing misinformation and ridicule from American media, President Trump’s administration has taken at least 50 proportional measures as the pandemic has grown [ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/timeline-of-trump-administration-actions-on-chinese-coronavirus-released-by-campaign/ ].
In three months time, Americans have also met the challenge as the threat has grown. We have seen innumerable acts of outreach on every level, from sacrificial service to neighborhood outreach to corporate donations and retooling. All of those things, from Washington D.C. to people walking across the street, should be a source of hope and pride.
Unfortunately, there are also too many examples of the flip side of the coin. It has been mind-boggling and painful, to witness panicked runs on stores and hoarding of every kind. The stories of citizens ignoring health advisories and directives, thereby possible helping to spread the CCP virus, are broadcast every day. Those activities are blatantly, selfish and irresponsible. They violate the essence what Americans are supposed to be in times of crisis.
Leadership also counts in all this. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer has been a stellar negative example of the political side. In her declaration calling for self-quarantine, she had an opportunity to do the very thing she so hypocritically preaches – bringing Michiganders together. But a little over 3 ½ minutes into her address to the state, she used the opportunity to create more division by blaming the Trump administration and promoting an image of Michigan “on our own”. She furthered a blindness to the unprecedented actions of the Trump team [ https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mozilla-102&hsimp=yhs-102&hspart=mozilla&p=video+of+gov+whitmer+%27s+stay+at+home+order#id=6&vid=9447dfa97b8bfdd935215b7ae3353975&action=click ]. The governor’s “townhall” on March 26th displayed the same tactics. She warned against assigning blame only minutes of doing exactly that. Whitmer was a stunning antithesis to New York governor Andrew Cuomo who truly set ideology and politics aside. He was and has continued to be, a brilliant example of a state’s unifier-in-chief.
Most maddening of all is the inconceivable ideological brinksmanship in the House of Representatives. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate came together and succeeded in forming a rescue bill for health interventions and economic stability, but not so the House. Apparently not wanting to miss an opportunity, led by Nancy Pelosi, their efforts centered, not on the country’s dire needs, but on voting rights, greenhouse emissions, Postal Service debt, citizenship status, broadband service, President Trump’s lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, “Obama phones” and much, much more [ https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosis-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-includes-return-of-obamaphones-climate-change-wishlist ]. Those divisive, self-serving initiatives created disunity and delayed efforts to “promote the general welfare” for over a week.
Michiganders, Americans, we can “form a more perfect Union … promote the general Welfare” and “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. All it takes is selflessness doing as selflessness does.