In which we reminisce, ruminate, and prognosticate

Just for the record, the Sept-Oct 2020 PF topic is pretty much a rerun of the 1962 debate topic that I argued back in my freshman year of high school with my partner, Duncan. No doubt my great-grandchildren, if any, will be debating it sixty years from now. Once a chestnut, always a chestnut. Not a bad topic, but also sadly a sorry commentary on medical care in our country. Just for the record, the goal of for-profit medicine is the highest number of patients spending the most money; the goal of government-funded medicine is the smallest number of patients costing the least money. Although the topic is not really about that, it’s something to keep in mind. 

 

As for the LD topic, I’ve always liked this idea, and certainly I like the resolution. In the US, where the number of voters is somewhere between pathetic and anemic, I wonder what it would result in vis-à-vis the President. Especially if voting in primaries was mandatory. You would never have seen either Trump or Clinton in 2016, I would imagine. The biggest horse’s ass in America versus the most hated woman? What are they odds either would survive the common folk? 

 

Meanwhile, I love reading the papers every day for the [sarcasm] clarity [/sarcasm] on the school reopening issue. I have to admit that I’m glad I’m not the one having to decide anything on this. There’s no winning side. Kids suffer from not being in school, unquestionably. The dangers of kids in schools spreading the virus are manifest. Crocodiles to the left, alligators to the right. A lot of folks seem to be of the let’s-open-the-schools-and-let-nature-take-its-course persuasion, that is, open them for two weeks until you have no choice but to close them. Creating successful virtual education? One doesn’t hear much about that particular puppy. Like anyone reading this blog, I’ve been to an awful lot of high schools in my day, and the idea that these are somehow safe environments does tickle the old funny bone. Seriously? And colleges are no better. 

 

Life is going to continue to suck for a long, long time.