Pushing the Buck

The recent Covid spike, combined with anxiety around the election, has everyone worked up to a fever pitch.

Throughout the crisis, I have tried to inform the public and elected leaders how miserable and mediocre a job we are doing at addressing, containing, mitigating, or eliminating Covid-19 in Durham.

By this point, I don't really try anymore. Leaders at Duke and in Durham elected offices are going to do what they feel is best, which is vastly insufficient to address the enormity of the task at hand.

I don't see it as any one person's fault, but instead a collective indictment against erstwhile leaders who are caught in a web of bureaucracy, corporate interest, and State and Federal inaction. They literally don't know how to take responsibility because they feel so put upon by the system, so exhausted by the lack of perceived options. There is no creativity, there is no movement, and there is no anger.

In our employee handbook, one of the ethical tenets we try to abide by is, "Don't Shrug, Take Responsibility." What I have been seeing is a whole lot of shrugging and deflecting, from the president on down. Without determined action, the ability for the upper middle class to insulate itself will become harder and harder. You might think it would be impossible to look away now, and lo, look at the blinders our leaders wear!