Pandemic might force meaningful change in U.S.

Bernie Sanders dropped out of the presidential race Wednesday.

If that unifies the Democratic Party and makes it easier to defeat Donald Trump in November, it's all for the best. To primary voters this year, Sanders was just a bridge too far. I always felt his proud use of the word "socialist" was a mistake. I'd have gone with Social Democrat.

I feel like Sanders saw this election as one for revolutionary change, while most Democrats -- myself included -- wanted more than anything just to get rid of Trump.

The great irony is that the Coronavirus pandemic may have transformed circumstances enough that it ought to be a true change election. Particularly in the area of health insurance.


There were already far too many people without insurance, and now tens of millions more people have been tossed into unemployment because of the pandemic. All of a sudden, Medicare for All doesn't sound like a bad idea.

 

 The great irony of the current system is that most employers who do provide health insurance to their employees would rather not do it. It's an expense that can't be counted on, and usually ends up costing more than it was originally expected to be.

It also reduces the freedom of individuals. Countless numbers of people stay in jobs they hate because they cannot afford to be without insurance. It makes it impossible for them to take chances, including starting their own businesses.

And now, with nearly 17 million people losing their jobs and filing for unemployment benefits in the last three weeks, the problem has become exponentially worse.

We already had a growing problem with employers hiring people less than full time or even on a temporary basis (the so-called "gig economy") so that they don't have to pay benefits. In fact, these are just additional steps in the overall attack on labor and workers' rights.

For the last 40 years, government has allowed corporations to make bigger profits at the expense of their employees. Is there a point where that trend reverses? I wish I could believe there was.

It's interesting to imagine how our country might have been different had Franklin Roosevelt been able to serve out his fourth term. In his 1944 State of the Union address, he proposed a Second Bill of Rights for after the war.

The bulk of it was economic, and it didn't involve giveaways. It pretty much said people should have the right to have a job that gave them enough money to support their families.

We really don't need so many billionaires.

We need more people secure enough economically that missing two paychecks doesn't send them over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

The economic disaster we're currently enjoying may do more than anything else to bring amount things like guaranteed minimum incones and single-payer health share.

Looks like maybe Bernie didn't campaign in vain.