I don't want to get into a political debate, but I do wonder who those hundreds of political leaders are and what poor economic decisions they've made in the past two years. An unexpected pandemic spread across the world. At the outset there was no cure, no effective treatments and no immunization from the virus. Today, there are several highly effective vaccinations available, in no small part due to political leaders who committed financial resources and offered incentives to companies to expedite research and testing. The medical community has developed a number of effective treatment programs that can mitigate the impact for many patients. The pandemic is still with us and it has disrupted supply chains and led to shortages in many areas, that have also been exacerbated by unforeseeable events.
At the same time, a worldwide financial meltdown has been prevented largely because of government spending. The stock market today is stronger than anyone expected it to be. Unemployment has been kept to a minimum despite the economic disruption of the pandemic. Thanks to the aggressive response of political leaders, the United States has, for the first time ever, established financial support for families that will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.
Across the western world, we are seeing governments and people finally taking the first tentative steps to acknowledge the systemic racism that has plagued us for centuries.
That's not to say that there are not political leaders who have build their careers on divisiveness and bigotry. There are. And people need to reject those leaders.
But, the single biggest detriment to progress seems to me to be coming from individuals who buy into conspiracy theories and refuse to take modest steps like vaccination, out of some bizarre and flawed idea that they have a right to endanger and infect others.
/RANT OVER