We'll need to spend more on cancer drugs, of course, and they should belong to the public that funded their development. But we already know how to cure many cancers. We can cure some with better nutrition. We can cure others by cleaning up the air and water, especially in our poorer communities. We know how to cure them -- but our elites don't want to do what must be done.
We don't need a "moonshot" for what ails us. We need an earth shot -- a range of investments grounded in science, environmental health, and social justice.
The Cure
The same is true of COVID-19. Yes, we need a vaccine, and better drug treatments. But we also need to make medical care -- the same care Trump received, or close to it -- available to everyone, as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapa l have proposed. We need to eliminate racism and ageism in the delivery of care. We need to distance, and to wear masks. If we did those things, we would save more lives today.
It will take longer -- a lot longer -- to cure our toxic individualism. We can start by naming it and diagnosing it: in Trump, in our culture, in our politics, in ourselves. This national soul-sickness may have begun with our elites, but it's up to us to cure it -- in ourselves, and in each other. The mechanics of that cure will take many forms, but it begins with words almost too trite to mention, words like -- dare I say it? -- "love."
That may have sounded like fuzzy-headed hippie sentiment last year. Who knows? Maybe it was, then. Now, our lives depend on it.
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