Andrew Cuomo for President! Please!

With all the dodgy leaders around the world doing ever more dodgy things it is nice to see at least one leader, albeit not a national leader, acting the part of a leader and seemingly doing it quite well. It is also nice to see this leadership in the USA as, and I think I speak on behalf of quite a lot of my fellow human beings, we were beginning to wonder whether there was anybody sane, intelligent, eloquent and commanding running the USA. But Andrew Cuomo does seem to fit the bill, plus if you listen to him with your eyes closed you get the distinct feeling that Al Pacino is running the state and that if you didn't do what he asked then you'd be found unconscious and bloodied next to the garbage bins out the back of an Italian American restaurant.

Meanwhile the Donald is trying very hard to roll back on everything he said just two weeks ago. It's like a light suddenly got switched on. Presumably the light illuminated a panel that had second term written on it but all the same, it's good to see the Donald in the game at least.

I guess the dilemma he faces is that age old question of life over money. For many a century life has come somewhat second to money, or wealth of other forms such as gold or land but in recent decades the move has be inexorably towards life being the greatest value in general and not just to each individual. Granted, that is still a work in progress and there are still an awful lot of people dying around the world both needlessly and with a shrug of the shoulders from the rest of the world. But slowly the world is moving towards a more caring society.

I know that's a big thing to say and that there will no doubt be many who just denounce that as bollocks, to use the english vernacular, but I'd like to think it is true and that as each generation goes on we  move more and more towards the light that is humanism.

After all, it is very easy, as Donald though a few weeks ago, to simply write off the disease we are all now living in dread of, as being just another disease and that influenza takes tens or hundreds of thousands every year without much more than a whimper from world leaders let alone a lockdown, but then this is different because the number of people than might die from coronavirus could be considerably higher and, unlike influenza, there are no vaccines to prevent spread.

The path Donald wished to take, according to what he was saying a few weeks ago albeit not what he is saying today (after seeing what the polling was saying about the 'what if' questions), is that the disease would come, it would kill the weakest in society and it would pass us by, but the economy would survive, not only would it survive but in some respects it would come out better than before. Sure, there would be some bumps along the way as the disease worked its way through the world, country by country, but those bumps would be like the bumps we might see from a serious influenza, ie businesses would see the workforce temporarily depleted for several weeks while the virus passed by and yes a few people would not return, ever, but business would proceed and all would be well. In the healthcare system there would be this bizarre bonus as a huge swathe of the elderly would suddenly be taken away and would relieve healthcare systems, social services units and would pump billions of untapped wealth back into society for those inheriting it to blow on shiny new cars.

That's the path that Donald originally wished to traverse, take the hit on a circa a million US citizens but keep the money rolling in. It is not dissimilar to the path the UK was taking and they carelessly dropped in  the socio-scientific term herd immunity as if we, human beings, are simply cattle. It is not the fault of the scientists, that's just how they look at things, in the abstract, not at the human being individual level. They cannot afford to do that else no drugs would ever get developed as you have to have studies and studies involve placebos and placebos mean somebody isn't getting the drug that might save them and that means the scientists can write this all up ad determine whether a drug works or not so as to save the next generation of people suffering from something nasty. So that's kinda why it is ok for scientists to talk about herd immunity, but politicians should no better because we are supposed to be past that kind of thinking where the voters are simply canon fodder to fight the next trench war on some foreign field.

As for the paths that are being trod by Brazil, North Korea, China, Venezuela and even Sweden, well, they will be useful as comparisons in future thinking.

However, for those that like grand experiments with human life well we have the greatest science show in the world ever unfolding before our very eyes. And not just in one field, but in every field ending in ology and a few others to boot. The social sciences will be having a field day and careers will be built n this disaster that will keep many an academic fed and warm for a lifetime. The same with economists who were only just wrapping up on the financial crisis, now they have a whole new one with many more avenues to explore. And of course the biologist, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, political scientists,naturalists, ecologists and many more will have lifetimes of work ahead of them because of one little strain of one little virus.

But to finish on my starting point. Andrew Cuomo, future President of the United States, now that I look forward to!