This is the time to Unite, America | Three Things Thursday
Oh, how the world has changed in a week.
Hundreds laid off, thousands more infected, and still we continue.
Here at Unite America, there are two aspects to our mission. The first is more tangible: enact reforms and elect leaders who will bring us to better governance.
The second is more conceptual: we aim to bring unity back to our country, and to bridge the deep partisan divisions that have become entrenched in our daily lives.
It’s the latter of these two that we are focusing on right now. Right now, more than ever, we need unity. It’s all we’ve got in a time like this.
Here are three things to think about this week:
This virus is hurting so many people right now, whether from illness or the economic struggle that’s happening around it. We’re not going to come out of this the same society we went into it. And we have to be looking out for each other to make sure that we’re all doing okay -- because some of us aren’t.
If you’re young and healthy, go to the grocery store for your elderly neighbor. If you’ve found that you panic-bought too many cans of beans, donate some to your local food bank (also stop panic buying in bulk -- there is no disruption to the supply chain!). Even something as small as Facetiming some old friends you haven’t heard from in a while will go along way in reminding everyone that we’re not in this alone. We’re here. Together.
Last year, our co-founder Charles Wheelan wrote a book called The Rationing. It’s premise: a pandemic comes to the US, but dysfunction and partisanship prevent the antidote from getting out.
Charlie’s not a soothsayer, and he claims not to be a genius. He is, however, a public policy professor, who teaches, studies, and thinks about the complex problems our government just isn’t equipped to solve. Instead, they keep passing things like debt, climate change, and yes, response to a global pandemic to the next generation. The virus is a wake-up call: our leaders need to start acting.
No one should have to decide between voting and staying safe. Yet that’s exactly the decision that so many Americans find themselves facing as an election hits in the middle of a pandemic.
Vote by mail is the only option if we’re going to keep people safe while holding elections. We already advocate for vote by mail because it’s a safe, secure, and easy way for people to vote; this pandemic proves why. If people can’t vote safely, the very integrity of elections are in question.
Vote. by. mail.
- BONUS: don’t forget to laugh.
There’s so much going on in the world today; so much news to consume and so much of it is overwhelming. At the risk of being pedantic, let me just take this opportunity to remind you that you don’t have to consume it all!
Please, take some time to laugh and remember that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. No matter what. Here are some things that have made me laugh and smile over the last few days.
We’re living in a very strange and uncertain time. There is time for action, and there is time to sit in your house.