News & Notes, April 2020
Hello, the News & Notes editorial staff hopes you are healthy and safe. The recent “stay-home” directives have made it more difficult for everyone. All of our organizations have lost some momentum and we are all searching for ways to stay in touch with our members. For many of us, the volunteer work we used to do has been put on hold. Even from a personal point of view, we’re finding it harder to stay in touch with like-minded people who started out as political allies and in many cases have become friends.
As this newsletter shows, organizations have managed to keep up a continuing level of activity. Especially worthy of note are the book clubs that some of our members are organizing. With our enforced downtime, most of us have more time to read and participate in a book club. A book club is also an excellent way to learn about a new issue and maintain a level of human contact.
Government Accountability task force. Jeff Colvin, who has spent his career working in national labs, wrote an op-ed in the March 29 Times, “Let’s make America safe again,” about the upcoming expiration of nuclear arms deals with Russia. He concluded “We need to be worried about this approaching treaty expiration date, because allowing the treaty to expire puts us right back into an escalating and unstable nuclear arms race.”
Poverty study. The group’s main activity before the shutdown was to contact people who have been homeless or otherwise experienced poverty in order to incorporate their perspective in the report. We’re now busy assessing how the corona virus crisis will affect poverty. Our initial assessment is that the effects are likely to be significant and longlasting.
Education task force. Dennis Cope wrote an op-ed, “College is Great, but …” about the opening of the Adams County Technical Institute. Cope wrote, “through a cooperative agreement among five of the six Adams County school districts, high school students will be able to earn industry credentials and/or certification in building trades, early learning, computer networking, diesel mechanics, law enforcement/criminal justice, allied health and culinary arts.”
Healthcare task force. Sandy Busche's op-ed “New RX Drug Affordability Board in PA” was published on March 12. She wrote about a new proposal from State Rep. Dan Frankel. “The Prescription Drug Affordability Act — HB 2212 — would create a mechanism to reduce what Pennsylvanians pay for their medications by creating a new entity to directly address high drug prices. It would give both lawmakers and the public greater understanding of how drugs are priced and investigate how specific drug prices have an impact in Pennsylvanians.”
The task force also shared “Why can’t Congress end surprise medical billing?” by Baird Tipson, February 18. Tipson said: “A large majority of voters in both parties supports banning surprise medical billing. So does President Trump. For once, the challenge is not Red/Blue gridlock. Pretty much everybody agrees that patients should never receive a “surprise” bill from a doctor. But despite this rare bi-partisan support [the bill] may not even come up for a vote in this legislative session.”
On April 9, Dwight Michael wrote one of the first articles considering the impact of corona virus emergency, “10 million jobs lost, health insurance as well?” He wrote, “Our nation’s people now face a time of job insecurity that has not been faced since the 1930s. For those who have lost their jobs, the loss of a living wage is compounded by the risk of losing one’s health insurance.”
Fair Districts Adams County. Steve Niebler reports that the time constraints on passing meaningful gerrymandering-reform legislation are enormous. It is probably too late for the legislature to pass the necessary bills to amend the State Constitution in time for the implementation of reform using the 2020 Census data. However, Fair Districts PA has assured us that they are working on other legislative remedies that can lead to meaningful change without amending the Constitution.
Under the direction of Lex McMillan, DFA is sending post cards to eight key legislators, encouraging them to support gerrymandering-reform legislation. If you'd like to participate, email Lex at lmcmillan49@gmail.com. He'll deliver the postcards to your door. You simply sign your name, address them to the appropriate legislator (Lex will get you the addresses), put stamps on them and drop them in the mail. It's a worthy activity in these house-bound times!
Draw the Lines (DTL), Pennsylvania's innovative program, continues to thrive. They are holding a Virtual PA Map Day at 3:30 PM on Tuesday, April 14. This Virtual Day will highlight the work that people around the state, including some from Adams County, have done to draw appropriate maps and it will rally folks to stick with the fight. You'll also meet the most recent DTL winners. Again, a very worthwhile activity while housebound. More information is available at info@drawthelinespa.org
Green Gettysburg book club. Green Gettysburg has moved its book club online and fourteen or fifteen of us have been meeting on Fridays via Zoom. Another dozen or so follow along via Facebook or regular email updates. We recently finished a five-week look at What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Climate Change by Norwegian psychologist and economist Per Espen Stoknes. Currently we are reading Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. To join the Green Gettysburg Book Club simply email wlane@gettysburg.edu.
Next week the book club will also begin an online examination of Paul Hawken’s Drawdown, which looks at the 100 most effective ways to dramatically lower the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Each week moderator Will Lane will review one or two of the articles in the book on the Green Gettysburg Facebook page and invite comments and questions. The book club hopes to strike a balance between Kimmerer’s work on reimagining our relationship with nature and a systematic look at the practical efforts underway to actually deal with climate change.
Green Gettysburg is also exploring closer ties with chapters of the Citizen’s Climate Lobby in both Chambersburg and York. This national organization advocates for a tax on carbon that would be returned directly to American families as a “carbon dividend.” With hands on, shoulder to shoulder projects like tree plantings and such on hold because of the coronavirus, we are doing our best to keep things alive online.
Mark Berg wrote a timely op-ed, “No wonder Trump’s businesses went bankrupt" (February 18).This article was written before the coronavirus crisis became a major economic and political factor, but he raises an issue that will be even more urgent in the aftermath of that crisis: the emerging federal debt crisis and the upcoming battle for the soul of the country. When the debt crisis hits, which now seems inevitable, the choices will come down to taxes vs. the social safety net. Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid as well as entitlements such as food stamps will be on the table. Berg pointed out the widespread Republican political belief that “1) people who receive public benefits are ‘takers’ rather than ‘makers;’ 2) low-income Americans don’t deserve a helping hand; and 3) government assistance is a waste of money and doesn’t accomplish its goals.” Berg concluded that “Slashing safety net programs to pay for the GOP tax cuts would redistribute wealth in the worst way, from the disadvantaged to the well-to-do. The right solution to the problem of deficits is to hold back on wasteful military spending and roll back Trump’s tax cuts.”
Project Gettysburg-Leon reviewed the status of its ongoing projects. Some highlights:
Talolinga Water Project. This major project is moving forward. PGL will order about 50% of the construction materials near the end of March. The community is ready, but there will be a corona-virus delay, this after many bureaucratic delays. The community is very grateful to PGL, but understands the need for health and safety first.
After-School Programs. PGL continues its support of five after-school programs that began during the violent days in 2018 when schools had to close. PGL aids the teachers financially and provides supplies for the youth. Most of the teachers in this program also make home visits for the at-risk youth, working together with parents to keep kids in schools. While most of these programs are closed now due to corona-virus, as are many regular schools in Nicaragua, none of them have shut their doors permanently and all of them are extremely happy to have PGL’s support.
Las Tias. Another program that PGL continues to support is the long-standing after-school program, “Las Tias.” One of the key advantages of the program is its outreach to the parents of youth in order to reinforce the importance of keeping the youth in school. PGL helps with some of the administrative costs but also fully funds programs in arts and dance for kids who otherwise don’t have any access to extra-curricular activities.
Gettysburg Rising book club met via Zoom on March 18 to discuss Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book “Tightrope, Americans Reaching for Hope.” Zoom worked well and it was a spirited discussion. The April Virtual Book Club is scheduled for April 29th at 7pm, assuming we'll all still be under shelter-in-place/quarantine orders. It will be hosted by Linda Terlizzi. The book to read is "Why We're Polarized" by Ezra Klein.
Gettysburg Rising’s monthly meeting involved a presentation and discussion (via Zoom) of the Poverty in Adams County study. Part of the presentation and much of the discussion revolved around the question of how this problem will be affected by the ongoing shutdown. The meeting was held on April 16. As a result of the discussion, Gettysburg Rising started a fundraiser to purchase grocery store gift cards for recently unemployed people. $2,000 was raised in the first three days.
2020 Census. April 1 was the official start of the Census. All complete count committees are in the same boat: after months of planning in-person activities to raise awareness and help people prepare their census forms, the committee is now scrambling to develop a stronger virtual presence and other activities that don’t rely on personal contact. We commissioned Community Media to develop an English language and a Spanish language public service announcement and are examining other web awareness opportunities. The committee is also planning an intense in-person follow-up activity later in the year, in case public activities are once again permitted (and safe). Despite these problems, Adams County’s count is off to a quick start, crossing the 50% response threshold on April 5, 25 days after the system opened for receiving forms. This is 4 percentage points ahead of state average.
What Comes Next? Editor Leon Reed speculates about what we’ll find when we step back out into the fresh air.
Whatever happens and however long the crisis lasts, it seems highly unlikely that we will return to the life we knew before the crisis. People will have spent months out of work and many will be heavily in debt. In all likelihood many local businesses will have failed. The pace of the recovery will be slow. (People should remember that in the last recovery, it took three years to reduce the unemployment rate from 10% to 8%.)
One thing we can be sure of is a sharp debate on taxes and priorities. The State of Pennsylvania’s balance sheet will be a wreck (lower income and sales tax receipts, no revenues from liquor stores and casinos, higher financial obligations) and the federal budget will be looking at several years of unprecedented deficits – probably a minimum of $2.5T a year just on the basis of money they’ve pledged to spend so far. The inevitable fight will take place on three battlefields: 1) Defense ($900 billion a year), 2) the Bush II/Trump tax cuts ($400B+ per year, and 3) entitlements, which basically means social security, Medicare, and Medicaid ($2T+/year). There are no other big categories of spending. This debate about social security will not be limited to benefits for people who are 20 years away from retirement – even current social security and Medicare benefits will be on the table. State pension funds will also be under severe pressure because of the decline in value of state portfolios, combined with their insolvency in other areas.
More locally, homelessness and hunger are likely to increase and the abilities of organizations such as SCCAP and the United Way may be stretched to the limit. SCCAP noted that their availability of food from the state Central Pennsylvania food bank has been limited and they are forced to use more expensive sources.
Perhaps the most important outcome of the crisis is that it lays bare “the frailty of the social contract,” in the words of the recent Financial Times editorial. Many people are vulnerable and there are few mechanisms to deal with them. The most important question is, “What sort of people will we be and what will we learn?” Will people recognize how fragile and insecure life is for many of our fellow citizens? Or will they say, “We can’t afford to carry those freeloaders?” Will the generosity of so many of our citizens predominate or will our response be controlled by those who see the world as “makers” and “takers?”
It seems certain that our lives and our institutions will be very different in a post-corona world. (Or will it be a trans-corona world?) It’s not too early to start thinking about what sort of world we want to live in.