As another week goes by with more cases of COVID-19 deaths and infections, more people are being required to shut themselves up in their homes as they watch their savings and opportunities dry up. The most frustrating part of all this is that the complete halt on the economy is being mandated by various government branches.
While Americans from sea to shining sea are complying with the mandate now, there might not be many Americans following the orders of the government in the future.
The fact of the matter is that Americans will quarantine themselves initially while they still have their savings and are trusting that the government who forced the shutdown is coming up with a plan to fix the issue. However, recent events have not shown that there is any grand plan within the government to correct the coronavirus issue. As each day goes by, more money is being drained from people’s bank accounts as they face the costs of unemployment.
For a recent example of the government’s lack of a cohesive, understood plan, look toward House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s abuse of power on a bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill. While a touted bipartisan bill was crafted to quickly provide relief to those negatively affected by coronavirus, Pelosi immediately flew in to Washington D.C. from her home state of California to block the bill.
She then recreated the bill with more provisions unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak in order to achieve pork for her own political agenda. These changes included election reform, raising the pay of doormen for the House of Representatives chamber, requiring diversity quotas on corporate boards, demanding lowered emissions standards on airplanes and raising the funding of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
All of these policies would beg for debate from Republicans if brought up on any other bills. Effectively, Pelosi slowed down the coronavirus relief plan to push for her own agenda. So it should be repeated that the government has no amazing plan, and the government cannot expect social compliance for too long without revealing an actual plan to restore the status quo to the U.S., if the old status quo of the U.S. is even achievable anymore.
So far, the only thing Americans have been seeing are more cases of coronavirus and a lot of damage control. Of course, damage control of the virus is an important step. But when there is a fire, people do not only want to know the progress of extinguishing the fire. People also want to know what can be restored in the future.
The same goes for the coronavirus, as those fortunate enough to not be infected are already looking ahead to the economy, and how it can be restored from the ashes. President Donald Trump has said that he hopes to get the economy functioning again by mid-April. While this is a good sign, and while he has been doing great work in a time of crisis, President Trump should not say things he might not be able to deliver.
People can only watch their communities and themselves slowly go bankrupt for so long before they do something about it. Government, please listen: The people want their jobs back. If a plan is not published for how the economy will start functioning again, then the people will not obey your orders much longer.
Brett Landry is a 21-year-old political communication senior from Bayou Petit Caillou, Louisiana.