Brown on Business
November 9-15, 2020
Election drama highlights 2020-time haze
By Wesley Brown
wesley@dailydata.com
Even as the Nov. 3 election ballots are still being counted at the time this Daily Record edition went to print, the Year 2020 of the Anno Domino (AD) calendar continues building on its bona fides as the longest year of this century.
As the lingering days of 2020 wind down, who would have thought a year ago that the 365 days between Dec. 31, 2019 and Jan. 1, 2020, would provide the world with enough surprises and unknown events to last several lifetimes.
If you are keeping tabs, Year 2020 has already given America 14-day quarantines, Black Lives Matter, social distancing, Zoom angst, virtual everything, drive-up-take-out, and Trump Trains that are not actually associated with railroads. The twelve months of this turbulent year has also made formerly unknown people into household names, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Amy Coney Barrett, and Megan “Thee” Stallion.
Regardless of what lays ahead for most Americans, including the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election, the nation is wont to move beyond 2020 as quickly as possible. To date, many keen observations have come to mind concerning 2020 with 60 or so days left in this surreal year. In no particular order, here are a few of those varied thoughts:
• I hope I never have to write COVID-19, coronavirus or CARES Act in a sentence ever again.
• Antwan Phillips is a rising star in the Central Arkansas political spectrum. After his campaign for City Director, I see a state office in his future.
• Trumpism is real, whether you like it or not. Even if Biden wins, American will still have deal with his MAGA followers as a powerful political force going forward.
• My political scientist friends say that there is nothing wrong with the political polling for the 2020 election cycle. I defer.
• I wonder who thought up the name “Operation Warp Speed” for the U.S. Department Health and Human Services and Pentagon’s game plan to accelerate efforts effort find, manufacturing and administer COVID-19 vaccines to 330 million Americans.
• If a cure is found for COVID-19, what will the ‘new normal’ feel like? And will it feel comfortable to allow persons other than close family and friends in my six-foot circle.
• If Biden is declared the new POTUS, how many of Trump’s executive order will he rescind in his first 30 days in office.
• No one can beat Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, despite predictions in each four-year election cycle of her demise.
• I still cringe every time I think of the COVID-19 test where they push a cotton swab into my brain. Yes, I tested negative, but I much rather be administered the coronavirus vaccine through a bed of injection needles rather than a having foot-long stick shoved up my frontal lobe.
• Will Congress ever move beyond the current gridlock in 2021 that prevented any substantial legislation from being passed under former Presidents George Bush, Barack Obama and Trump?
• If someone bet you $1 million, could you cite the name of the two major bills sign into law that created Obamacare and the CARES Act. (Answer – The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.)
• Is the mail-in ballot in Philadelphia the 2020 equivalent of the “hanging chad” of Florida in the contested 2000 president election?
• Will masks continue to be a fashion accessory long after COVID-19 is a memory?
• With his popularity nearing star status for his handling of the coronavirus crisis in Arkansas, is it possible that Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson will run for president in four years after he is term limited out of office at the end of 2021?
• Are germaphobes now considered normal, and did buffets die in 2020?
As one ponders those important issues, the elephant in the room in Year 2020 is still the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus known as SARS-CoV2. And for those still counting, the total number COVID-19 cases between the first positive test on Jan. 21 and the Nov. 3 election touched 9,268,818 American lives. Out of that total, 230,893 people have died, and most states have continued to see a spike in cases since early October.
In Arkansas, total COVID-19 cases reached 114,518 on Nov. 3 with 2003 deaths. Concerning that rise in daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the past month or so, Arkansas Hospital Association President and CEO said during Gov. Hutchinson’s daily virtual press briefing on Nov. 2 that a growing shortage of healthcare workers is causing worker fatigue, impacting healthcare costs and contributing to few beds at local hospitals.
With the election that could go on for several weeks all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, there is a growing fear now is that Yearling 2021 will be a continuation of its never-ending virtual time fog that alighted upon the nation in early March. For goodness sakes, let’s hope a vaccine or cure is soon in the pipeline in time to celebrate the 2021 New Year proper.
