How Covid May Change Politics For Good
Survivors, long-haulers and the immuno-suppressed are a latent force for change.
Losing a loved one changes each of us personally, but when many are lost at once, the trauma changes society. As the Covid pandemic ends its second year and the death toll in America inches inexorably toward 1,000,000 souls, a majority of Americans want this time of disruption to be over. According to a recent Monmouth poll, seven in ten agree that “it’s time we accept that Covid is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives.” At the front edge of that fatalistic attitude are self-identified Republicans, 89% of whom support that sentiment, while just 47% of Democrats agree.
As much as we all wish it were over, the question remains: How will our lives be changed? What lessons will we take from this time and how will they be converted into new political realities? Will the Right succeed in framing the pandemic as a time of governmental overreach, even “tyranny,” sweeping newly activated constituencies of over-stressed parents and angry business owners into its ranks and reclaiming the upper hand in Washington? Will the Left emerge from its self-imposed virtual lockdown and organize more effectively among the embattled health workers, teachers and service workers who have borne the brunt of Covid’s stresses? Or…
