By (nearly empty) ferry across San Francisco Bay to the city we went for the day, navigating The Embarcadero from the Ferry Building to Pier 39, just like the tourists do. Only this year there are no tourists; only local folks walking, jogging, scootering, biking, skating or singing their way along the waterfront.
It was the first time in years that I've been there but most of the old landmarks remain -- Fog City Diner, Pier 23, Coit Tower, the sea lions. San Francisco is the kind of city where even if you live here you don't mind playing tourist.
Otherwise, it was a mellow, melancholy day, a chance to look back over 2020 and wonder at its endless cycles of chaos, collectively and personally. I spent the first nine days of last January in a skilled nursing facility, the next two months in an assisted living community, and the rest of the year living in different households with my children.
We gave away virtually all my possessions before I gradually started recovering my health, which early on had not been a given. But I also started posting these essays to Facebook, almost by accident, and made lots of new friends.
Although technically I was retired, my workload easily equalled that when I was employed. Several reporters asked me to help them on investigative projects; I did and loved it, as always. It finally occurred to me that in my case, "retired" means the freedom to write, all the time and without any strings attached.
Besides my essays, I started curating the news because people encouraged me to do that. This space on Facebook became my own little daily broadcast. Since it was an election year, there was plenty of political news, but it unfolded like a train crash in slow motion. The emergence of an authoritarian president ended any sense that this could be a normal election cycle. It was impossible to remain neutral, which is my training and my inclination. I had to speak out.
Because it wasn't a normal election -- the choice was democracy or tyranny.
Huge environmental insults, including monstrous wildfires and hurricanes, presaged an early arrival of the long-predicted climate changes that will alter life on the planet. I developed a sense of urgency and mission to somehow contribute to raising consciousness about climate change while there is still time -- if indeed there actually is still time.
***
The election has not even been certified yet, but the signs are already clear that the Democratic Party is splintering ideologically. The left is dissatisfied with Biden's moderate approach and wants a much more radical agenda. Progressives are already blaming the party's center wing for losing seats in the House and Senate they thought should have been won.
The problem with that analysis is "How could they have won? By being more leftist?"
I doubt that.
There are attractive young radical Democrats, led by the charismatic A.O.C., but history warns us that when one of the parties veers too far from the middle, the electorate will turn away. So I'm talking about 2022 and 2024 now and I have two cautionary tales:
Goldwater in 1964 and McGovern in 1972. One too far right, one too far left. Both catastrophic electoral failures.
I've got bad news for my many progressive friends -- Americans are not going to elect a self-professed socialist at this stage in our history. So any attempt to move the Democratic Party that far leftward is doomed to failure. Besides, any political movement that demonizes Republicans generally and excludes small-town, rural Americans is a movement that will almost certainly backfire.
Biden has the right approach for now -- heal the country, beat the virus, bring back the economy, try to serve everybody. Speak particularly to those alienated voters who supported Trump. Trust me, they are not all QAnon fanatics and idiots. And their sense of alienation is real.
Perhaps our best hope as a nation and a people is to rebuild the institutions of democracy, including our local press, and forge a consensus on overcoming the existential threat of global climate change. We need alternative energy systems, sustainable environmental policies, new housing initiatives, wealth equality, and end to racism, equal rights for all, and an equitable distribution of resources.
These are not socialist ideas; these are survivalist ideas.
***
Every night as I sort through the news, there are odd items that make me stop and wonder what the hell is going on out there beyond my window. This night one such report is that squirrels have been attacking people in Queens. When I mentioned this to my 12-year-old grandson, he had the perfect observation:
"I guess 2020 just had to squeeze one more crappy thing out in its final hours."
***
The news:
* "Our son Christopher Allen was killed in South Sudan. We urge Biden to protect journalists like him." (Joyce Krajian and John Allen / WashPo)
* Significant numbers of coronavirus patients experience long-term symptoms that send them back to the hospital, taxing an already overburdened health system. (NYT)
* As U.K. coronavirus cases hit record high, health-care workers are overwhelmed (WashPo)
* Will Pence Do the Right Thing? -- On Jan. 6, the vice president will preside as Congress counts the Electoral College’s votes. Let’s hope that he doesn’t do the unthinkable — and unconstitutional. (NYT)
* A top federal prosecutor who issued a bizarre statement during the 2020 campaign that helped fuel President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud has announced his impending resignation. U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania David J. Freed, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, said Tuesday that he will resign his office at midnight on Jan. 1, just 19 days before Joe Biden is sworn into office as the 46th president of the United States. [HuffPost]
* Bracing for a possible Iranian-linked attack, U.S. officials warn ‘the threat streams are very real’ (WashPo)
* Experts say that the worst of climate change’s effectshave arrived more quickly than even many scientists expected. And that has wide-ranging implications about which parts of California are habitable, as well as how many resources must be devoted to managing fires, figuring out where crops will grow and more. (NYT)
* Legal Abortion, Once a Long Shot in Catholic Argentina, Now Within Reach -- A bill before the Senate would make abortion legal in the predominantly Catholic nation, the homeland of Pope Francis. Its approval likely would have significant effect across Latin America. (NYT)
* Squirrel-Mania! Queens Residents Describe In Graphic Detail Being Attacked By Crazed Rodents (CBS)
***
The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over
Back in 1899, when everyone was singing "Auld Lang Syne"
A century took a long, long time for every boy and girl.
Now there's only one thing that I'd like to know
Where did the 20th century go?
I'd swear it was here just a minute ago
All over this world.And now the 20th century is almost over,
Almost over, almost over
The 20th century is almost over
All over this world.
All over this world, all over this world
The 20th century is almost over, all over this world.Does anyone remember the Great Depression?
I read all about it in True Confession
I'm sorry I was late for the recording session
But somebody put me on hold.
Has anybody seen my linoleum floors
Petroleum jelly, and two World Wars?
They got stuck in the revolving doors
All over this world.
And now...The winter's getting colder, summer's getting hotter
Wishin' well's wishin' for another drop of water.
And Mother Earth's blushin'' 'cause somebody caught her
Makin' love to the Man in the Moon.
Tell me how you gonna keep 'em down on the farm
Now that outer space has lost its charm?
Somebody set off a burglar alarm
And not a moment too soon.
Because...Old Father Time has got his toes a tappin'
Standing in the window, grumblin' and a rappin'
Everybody's waiting for something to happen.
Tell me if it happens to you!
The Judgment Day is getting nearer
There it is in the rear view mirror.
If you duck down I could see a little clearer
All over this world!
-- © by Steve Goodman, John Prine
P.S. Factcheck: It apparently ended twenty years ago.
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