This pandemic has changed so much about America, but at least one thing unfortunately remains the same. Our national political dialogue is still dominated by denizens of the right and left directing blame at someone on the other side. Democrats accuse the president of incompetence. The White House blames Democratic governors for dropping the ball. However powerful this virus may be, it appears not to have been forceful enough to overcome the impulse to partisanship. And that’s a shame.
Fortunately, what we read on the front page, see on social media, and watch on cable news is not the sum total of what’s happening within the public sector. Differing layers of government —even bureaucracies controlled variously by Democrats and Republicans — are working toward solutions on a whole variety of fronts. The House Problem Solvers Caucus, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, has just released the first bipartisan comprehensive plan for reopening the country. And a wide range of members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are applying their various expertise to the diverse aspects of this multifaceted challenge.
Read Full Article »