If the virus is used for self-interested purposes by the many interests affected, no common interest can form that would provide a basis for leadership by authorities.To survive as a society, we need realism, decisive action, and commitment to everyone by public authorities without favoritism.From doubters, we need questions in place of the denunciations and explanations that imply our doom.If we believe we are doomed in advance, it will be hard to muster the will to prevail over the health and economic challenge.
The challenge from the virus might be greater than we know, for example:
If we are discouraged in advance, the catastrophe will be greater.
As we experience the shortcomings, and perhaps the failure, of our health and economic system, we should be prepared to demand and force through substantial reforms, reforms even more far-reaching than those brought by the Great Depression.
The neoliberal globalism of recent decades has left the United States and Europe extremely vulnerable.
We must not contribute to making this vulnerability worse, and we must replace neoliberal globalism with a less dysfunctional system at the earliest opportunity.
