Even programs that don't enjoy wide popularity when first introduced, such as the Affordable Care Act, enlarge the nation's sense of what is reasonable for the government to do for its citizens. The ACA lives on, more popular than ever, notwithstanding the GOP's determination to repeal it and Donald Trump's efforts to undermine it.
As the pandemic challenges the security and safety of all Americans, some conservative politicians are proposing things that would have been unthinkable certainly unspeakable only months ago.
The Missouri Republican senator Josh Hawley is calling for the federal government to "cover 80% of wages for workers at any US business, up to the national median wage" until the crisis is over.
Indeed. Hawley's logic would as easily justify national paid sick leave and universal basic income, permanently.
If the pandemic has revealed anything, it's that America's current social safety net and healthcare system does not protect the majority of Americans in a national emergency. We are the outlier among the world's advanced nations in subjecting our citizens to perpetual insecurity.
We are also the outlier in possessing a billionaire class that, in controlling much of our politics, has kept such proposals off the public agenda.
At least until now.
Stay Safe,
Robert Reich
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