Recently I had Covid-19 or coronavirus whatever you want to call it but I won’t start there. Instead I’ll start from the beginning. In a way we all have had coronavirus for well over a year now. We saw news reports from China; then Europe exploded with the pandemic. In America we can’t say we weren’t warned because it was obvious with every day. In fact we had well over a month to get out shit together. America failed. I’m not blaming the president or the congress or the media specifically but as a whole our society failed. By March of 2020 covid-19 was already spreading throughout major cities New York being one. President Trump downplayed as if it was just a flu early on or he would use it to specifically demonize China which was red meat for the racists of his base. I’m not saying all Trump supporters are racist but if you were racist it was likely you were voting for Trump.
Being that there was little to no federal response New York’s Governor Cuomo decided to shut down travel to his state. In shutting down New York, Cuomo would set off a mass exodus throughout the country. If you watch YouTube during this time period you could see a mass quantity of people disperse throughout the country. Meanwhile in Florida we shutdown our bars and beaches and were advised to socially distance ourselves. People ignored warning because they watched news channels that downplayed the disease. It was a half measure People shopped at my job multiple times a day just to get out of the house. Now I love freedom but what I came to realize is sometimes the masses are too dumb to know what’s good for them. People were gathering and simultaneously the license plates on the cars at gas pumps were more frequently from out of state. It was Bike Week (I’m fifty miles north of Daytona) when we had our first confirmed covid case, a tourist from New York. It had begun.
At work we would wear gloves and masks. I had ordered mine early because I had planned on flying to New York in August to visit family. Within three months I would have three coworkers test positive for corona. Luckily for me I worked overnight and was out of range of the masses. I think it was May, New York announced travelers would have to quarantine two weeks when vacationing. I don’t know if the people that made the rule understand how vacations work. First vacations are only one week and I could just spend a week in a room without buying a fucking plane ticket. Needless to say I had to cancel my Airbnb and flight. I had two types of customers. One would ask why people aren’t wearing masks and sometimes would confront them or ask me what I was going to do about it. Luckily for me we were instructed not to enforce it. However I did have to deal with customers “forgetting” that we weren’t doing refills on coffee or fountain drinks. That was a fun unnecessary daily issue with people that ignored signs. The other type of person argued against wearing masks because of their freedom to be Covid Marys.
The media told us the death toll regularly while the president would handle it so bad he turned a politically rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma into a petri dish that would spread the disease to even former presidential candidate Herman Cain who would later die. Trump himself would also contract the disease because obviously they weren’t careful (great job). So Trump would lose mostly because of the poor handling to covid. The Democratic party was fully intent on proving anyone could beat Trump by propping up two time losing candidate Joe Biden.
Biden won and the vaccine was in production between three pharmaceutical corporations because nationalizing it would hurt any profit incentive. The deal was made under the Trump administration but as Biden is president the vaccine is being distributed. The media claimed mission accomplished its an end to covid. That’s funny because these articles came out while I was in quarantine.
On a Friday at work I was getting my ass kicked. Vendors, tourists, and now running fast food to compete with competitors. There was a point where I was lightheaded and lethargic. I’ve felt this before though, Almost fifteen years earlier working eighty hours a week on salary thinking I was paying dues. I said to myself the same thing I said then, ” Suck it up!” . It was rent week so I didn’t know what my health insurance would cover and I was still waiting on my not two thousand dollar stimulus ( fourteen hundred) and my tax return. That night I was coughing up chewy chunks while biking home. I would later see it was orange. Typically I get bronchitis around this time of year so I wasn’t concerned and I was needed at work. The Friday after I paid rent I got tested and Monday afternoon I got a link to an app that showed I was positive. Positively shocked!!!
After notifying my boss I was informed I would be out two weeks and then I’d have to get two consecutive negative tests before I could get back. First thought I was letting my coworkers down. The second thought was woohoo. No work. At this point I just had a cough similar to my bronchitis but that was it. I had time on my hands. I was getting my groceries and dinners delivered. The first couple days I would clean my apartment and do all my laundry. It was fantastic catching up on real life out side of work. I was loving life.
Yet at the same time it was lonely. The solitude is a feeling that your in purgatory. Your not living your best life but instead existing sleep to sleep. Sure I got some reading done, and changed my bike chain but I also took a good hard look at who I am. If my twenty year old self saw who I became he would first be surprised I didn’t die after thirty and then punch me for wasting so much time. Between coughing fits I’d argued with strangers online about the George Floyd case, Kyle Rittenhouse, pro-wrestling, and pop culture. Twitter is a dumpster fire in which the debates devolve to strawman fallacies and name calling. Instead of learning to play keyboard with my time I had to get the last word against someone that may have been paid to troll through K-Hive or MAGA.
I was lucky I didn’t die. Though I was more afraid of hospitalization than death. Could I afford to go to the hospital? I don’t know how much my insurance would cover. Also the effect on the brain the virus has was a fear of mine. A few weeks later I still have a slight cough when I talk extensively. After a month I plan to take the vaccine specifically to be able to fly to NY so I can visit family. Anyway I’m back to work now. We are still short staffed and struggling. Throughout this experience I learned I don’t want to be in purgatory til I die. There is more to life then clocking in for someone else and sleeping to be rested before going back to work again. Live your best life until it’s over.
My earliest memories of politics on the news was the 1988 election. Joe Biden was running in the Democratic primary among Mike Dukakis, Jesse Jackson, Paul Simon, Dick Gephardt, Gary Hart, Pat Schroeder, Al Gore and Joe Biden. What I remember from that race was Paul Simon’s bowtie and him not being the guy with Chevy Chase on VH1. I remember Jesse Jackson’s popularity. There was talk and jokes about Gary Hart sleeping around. This I recall from Mad magazine at the time. Al Gore would drop out early due to lack of name recognition. Mike Dukakis would run a losing campaign to George Bush Sr. It was a slaughter Lee Atwater would orchestrate the demolition of Dukakis’ character ad after ad. Before all this my mother’s favorite Joe Biden was force to drop out.
Joe Biden had done a speech that later came out as plagiarized a speech by a British politician. Also it came back that he lied about much of his past including involvement in the civil rights movement. Also some discrepancies in his educational background. So before the primaries began Joe Biden stepped down from the race. Joe would continue his career in the senate for many years to come. In that time a scandal would come up for a potential supreme court justice. Clarence Thomas was a choice of George Bush for the Supreme Court. Thomas had sexual harassment charges against him. Biden proceeded over the hearing and many complain of his work here. There’s fair criticism to be make. I’m not going to go there. It was a different time.
Fast forward 2003 George Bush Jr. is pushing for a war with Iraq. I’m watching and thinking “why?” Isn’t Bin Laden in Afghanistan? won’t this divert attention from that goal. I never bought the weapons of mass destruction story. Its not the best reasoning to be honest but I watched as France and Germany agreed thank the war was a terrible idea. Being a history major I knew one thing. France and Germany historically don’t agree on anything. Joe Biden didn’t just vote for the Iraq War he enthusiastically supported the war. There were many more Democrats like Biden pushing for the invasion alongside their Republican peers in bipartisan unity. In 2004 we had an election between two candidates in favor of continuing the war and I stayed home the first time since I was legally able to vote. However I probably would’ve voted for Nader again.
So 2007 Joe Biden runs for president again. He runs against Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and ten other opponents. I didn’t notice it at the time but the media didn’t handle Kucinich and Gravel equally to the other candidates that were more comfortable with the military industiral complex. Biden would drop out early in the race.
After it was decided who the nominee was Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate. Biden made Obama look safe for middle America in a when Fox “news” would regularly dog whistle racist tropes or infer he may be a terrorist. I voted for Obama. Biden was a compromise for me. Like “oh alright”. So they win the election and we have eight years of Obama and Biden. The wars continue, the patriot act quietly expands through the prism program, the NDAA is passed eroding more freedom. Also they don’t replace Scalia immediately giving the Republicans and extra Supreme court pick.
For the 2020 election Joe Biden gives another run at the presidency. On the plus he can claim Whitehouse experience. However on the negative this is not the same Joe we’ve known for decades. This is Muhamad Ali boxing in the eighties past his prime. When confronted on the campaign trail he would tell voters to vote for someone else. In a debate question about how his views on race have evolved he rambled incoherently about how parents should “play the record player so kids could hear words”. That was the red flag for me. This guy should not be the one to face Trump head to head. Out of twenty candidate fifteen I would’ve voted for. some reluctantly. Biden was one of the worst case scenarios with Mike Bloomberg.
The goal became obvious as the slogan “vote blue no matter who became more prevalent. Anyone but Trump was push until the day after the Nevada caucus. Bernie Sanders had officially had a good lead. The media took the gloves off and attacked Bernie with vitriol. Joy Reid asked passionately, “whats the DNC going to do about this?” She would also use a “body language expert” to attack him with pseudoscience. Chris Matthew spoke of a dystopian future that included executions in Central Park if Bernie won.
Joe Biden had all his chips in South Carolina and won it as expected by anyone paying attention. The media declared it “Joementum” as if it was a surprise comeback. Then the night before Super Tuesday all the corporate democrats dropped out and endorsed Joe. Biden would go on to, for all intents and purposes, get the nomination. During this time rape allegations would come out. I don’t know where I stand on the allegation but I am disgusted by the hypocrisy of those that have used such allegations in the past as a political weapon now are finding ways to discredit the victim in ways such as character assassination and gaslighting. In my heart I always felt I was a Democrat but the part left me.
I won’t vote for Joe Biden. His stand on the Iraq War disqualified him long ago. Today watching him speak (no its not a stutter) I know something is wrong. His stand on marijuana is trenched in “gateway drug” mythology from the Reagan era. His willingness to put social security on the table if austerity is pushed from the right makes him useless. Sure people will bring up the Supreme Court and to that I say get a better candidate. At least he’s not Trump, okay well get someone that can get my vote. This entitlement to votes attitude is how we continue to lose.
This isn’t personal for me. Joe Biden has not had an easy life. His biography is often tragic but that doesn’t give him a pass on policies that will affect the lives of millions of people. If the Democratic party continues on this track Donald Trump will be re-elected. When that happens the strategist that failed again will keep their jobs as will the pundits and opinion columnist that are professionally wrong. These millionaires will keep their Trump tax breaks while claiming to be apart of a resistance as they attack the most vulnerable for no bending the knee to the establishment.