Laurie Garrett: It's time to cancel the Presidential Campaign

[brooklynite]

(nb - Laurie is a personal friend and a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist on infectious disease)

Foreign Policy

Let’s get serious, America. It’s time to ask, during a time of plague, whether—and if so, in what form—democracy can continue as usual. The answer is likely to be disappointing. For the first time in the country’s history, the United States must contemplate canceling the Democratic and Republican national conventions and campaign rallies, and give serious consideration to arranging ways of organizing election day that don’t require in-person voting.

Consider the apparent fallout from Super Tuesday voting on March 3. Democrats voted in 14 states in their presidential primaries, with some states showing record turnouts and long voting lines. California voting turnout was especially robust. The following day, the state saw its first COVID-19 death and Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency across California, as evidence surfaced of community transmission in several counties.

But the dangers of the election campaign aren’t just a matter of voting. American democracy is built one handshake at a time, along with selfie poses, baby kisses and photogenic hugs. Democrat front-runners former Vice President Joseph Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders are inveterate shakers and huggers, making contact with more would-be voters in an hour than most people might in a month of social encounters. A candidate’s hands can be a vector, taking the virus from one eager citizen to the next, and the next, and so on.

That’s been demonstrated by the aftereffects of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. On Feb. 29, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to about 19,000 people gathered inside Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, and met with many adoring followers, shaking hands, hugging and kissing many. Trump had assured the crowd that “everything is really under control,” and his administration’s response to the outbreak was “given very good grades, like an A-plus-plus-plus” from experts.

[DownriverDem]

1. No way

We can vote by mail or email. Campaigns can still go on.

[brooklynite]

3. Point of contention...

Vote by mail is not possible in NYS without a State Constitutional Amendment requiring at least two years.

[AlexSFCA]

30. why not done?

[Hoyt]

33. No absentee ballots by mail?

[dragonlady]

34. Don't you have absentee ballots in New York?

In Wisconsin we can apply for an absentee ballot that will be sent to our home by mail and can be returned the same way, postage paid by the city.

[HarlanPepper]

2. Interesting idea

I'm very interested in the canceling the conventions part given that it would deny a platform for people who have irrational grievances over who Democratic voters selected as their nominee, which made for terrible optics the last time around.

[jls4561]

9. What about cancelling that other convention with a person whom Putin elected and who has irrational

grievances about everything?

I could miss that.

[HarlanPepper]

31. Yeah they can do whatever they want

I have zero interest in the Trump Party Convention. Fact is, I hope they hold it with CPAC like fallout.

[IluvPitties]

4. No way.

[Salviati]

5. Canceling the election? Fuck that

Not with this disaster in chief.

Modifying what it means to campaign? Absolutely.

[Codeine]

6. People need to stop being a bunch of fucking hysterics.

Get a goddamned grip. This ain’t the plague.

[customerserviceguy]

12. Bookmarked for two weeks from now. n/t

[zackymilly]

20. Pass me some of that codeine. lol. nt

[Hoyt]

35. I agree. Serious and worthy of caution, but it's not the plague.

[captain queeg]

7. Been expecting to hear this

You can bet Trump and the rethugs are trying to figure out how to capitalize on this. Best case scenario Trumps get sick and drops dead. Not feeling bad about saying it.

[ace3csusm]

16. F***that

I want him in an orange jump suits for the rest of his life...what he has done cant be forgiven...

[captain queeg]

25. I agree but for the sake of the country I'd settle for him to be gone

And his name to go down in history as a criminal and worst president in history and whatever fortune he really has be confiscated and his kids go to prison. Really a lot of rethugs ought to go to prison.

[Thomas Hurt]

8. If I were as paranoid and nutty as a christofascist...

I could hypothesize that Trump made a deal with Xi to loose this plague on the world so that King Donnie the Venal has an excuse to control voting. Between him and his GOP state house majorities they can nudge the turn out, ability to vote and polling places to keep the amoral pig in office.

but I am not so, no.

[dewsgirl]

10. I think many here, obviously aren't really aware of who she is

and why she is saying this.
I am not saying I agree, I do know she is fully aware of the disaster we are facing and that Trump greatly exacerbates the situation.

[cannabis_flower]

29. I'm aware of who she is..

She's a science journalist and author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance; Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health; and Ebola: Story of an Outbreak. I've read The Coming Plague.

She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1996 for a series of works published in Newsday, chronicling the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire.[1]

Her website is http://lgarrett.squarespace.com/

Here's the Wikipedia entry: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Garrett

It doesn't sound like she really thinks the election should be cancelled, just that we find a way to do it that doesn't endanger public health and put millions of people at risk of contracting a dangerous virus.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

11. I can think of one candidate who wouldn't mind cancelling the election n/t

[2naSalit]

13. Fuck NO!

Not unless Obama is in office, and he's not so no. I think that's a very dangerous idea and I hope she stops repeating it.

[DesertRat]

14. Oh Hell No

[OnlinePoker]

15. They ran an election in the middle of a civil war

They can get through this with adequate planning and protections in place (even if it means masking up everyone entering the polling precincts or waiting in line outside). This is too important of an election to cancel (all elections are too important to cancel, by the way).

[msongs]

17. 5 months til the convention. 8 months til the election. no hurry here nt

[Thekaspervote]

18. This gives voice to republicans..they know they are going to lose and would love that

[ananda]

19. I would have them carry me on my deathbed to vote.

This election matters too much!

[pink]

21. Are you saying that the country is better off with keeping Trump as president

and having him call the shots with this pandemic. That is absolute insanity. Sensible measures can be taken during this election period and the example should be set by Trump. If he still insists on holding his rallies he's endangering his own health and that of his base. I dont think he's thought that one through.

[hlthe2b]

22. NO NO NO NO NO: Brooklynite you are misrepresenting: Title says CAMPAIGN NOT ELECTION!!!!

Your subject line misrepresents the entire article and premise.

PLEASE CORRECT without delay!

[brooklynite]

23. I thought I fixed that...

[hlthe2b]

24. Apparently most on this thread saw it incorrectly referring to election. I'd advise you to

self delete and repost with an explanation.

This is not good. People are concerned enough without this kind of misunderstanding.

[Codeine]

27. That does change the tone a bit. nt

[apcalc]

26. Get real honey...the campaign can all be done online

Voting is another matter.

[C_U_L8R]

28. Better, lets vote now so less people have to die

[Demsrule86]

32. No.