Questions and Answers

A friend of mine, actually more of an acquaintance, publishes a monthly newsletter which I try and take the time to read.  This month, in a self-described apolitical letter, he poses a few questions below the fold.  I decided to post a few answers.

If my kids or grandkids have asthma or some other pre-existing condition, will they be able to find affordable health insurance?

I hope so.  During the previous administration the US Congress enacted a series of regulatory laws often referred to as ObamaCare.  Prior to ObamaCare, my insurance cost me $165 per month.  After ObamaCare became law, my insurance was cancelled.  New affordable insurance, which by law I was forced to buy, would cost me $1,250 per month.  Only one company offered it.  I couldn't afford health insurance, and so lived without it.

Will my black and brown friends have the same opportunities to be happy and successful as I've had?

Probably.  More than likely their opportunities will be a little better.  Prior to the entire COVID pandemic, unemployment was at a historic low.  Lower than it's ever been in the past 20 years.  But then we got COVID.  Once the economy recovers, your black and brown friends will have opportunity to become successful.  So will your Asian friends, your female friends, your middle aged friends, your tall friends, your short friends, your fat friends, your elderly and unattractive friends... even people who aren't your friends!

Can we all come together to do the simple things we need to do to get this pandemic under control?

In a word, no.  We'd first have to agree on what needs to be done, and that's an impossibility just now.  But things can and do change over time, but just now?  No.

Do our friends and allies in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas still trust us to stand by them in a pinch?

And who, precisely, are these friends and allies of the U.S. that you speak of?  More to the point, do you mean military allies or economic allies?  Or both?  Because if you're talking about both, the list is short.  Very, very, short.  And it isn't getting longer.  However, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Think in terms of a neighbor that's been borrowing money from you, but not paying it back.  Have anyone ask him if you two are real buds, and he'll swear on a stack of dead presidents that you are his best bud ever.  The salt of the earth.  A great guy.

Then you stop lending him money.

Two things happen.  One, you suddenly turn into a Capitalist Pig, and he is starving to death along with his extended family, and you don't care.  Two, you can make your car payment, house payment, utility payments, and wife payment - without having to borrow money from your other neighbor.

Will the institutions of our Republic, or indeed, the Republic itself, endure?
Yes.  We have survived:

The Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
War of 1812 (1812-1815)
Mexican - American War (1846-1848) AKA Texas versus Everyone Else.
American Civil War (1861–1865) (Technically ended in 1865, but don't try to float that one south of the Mason-Dixon Line.)
Spanish-American War (1898)
World War I (1914-1918)
World War II (1939-1945) (Germany, Italy, and Japan versus the British Empire, the USSR, and the USA) Victory was a near thing, but decisive.
Korean War (1950-1953)
Vietnam War (1959-1975)
Gulf War (1990-1991)
War in Afghanistan (2001-present) Just ask the Brits about Afghanistan, and don't forget to mention the Khyber Pass.
The civil rights unrest of the 1960s and '70s.  

What everyone should remember here are two things:

1. The loud protests, the violent peaceful demonstrations, and the fictional news that commercial media constantly broadcasts represent less than one percent of the population of the United States.
2. We are electing a President, not a God-King.

If you want to remember something else, remember that the cities with the highest crime rates per capita and the highest tax rates and controlled by Democrats.  If you want higher taxes and crime, vote for your local Democrat.