Leadership for the long-term

Leadership is often looked at in hindsight, when a crisis has passed. Rarely is it looked at in the moment.

Several years ago, a governor asked for a tax increase to dedicate toward paying down state debt. It passed and that path was taken with good success. Successful until his opponent promised to end that fiscal policy and have a tax cut; so he was elected. It is safe to say that few noticed any reduction in taxes but now many crow about the debt that was created in the wake of the reversal of policy.

Similarly, few noticed when the administration in Washington decided to end the office for pandemic planning, mostly it seemed because it was seen as an Obama legacy, never mind the prospect of pandemic. There are downstream consequences to everything. As the old saw goes, "poor planning leads to poor results." We have war planners in the Pentagon, but discharged pandemic planners and we hurtle toward 60,000 deaths in a few months and it is growing in disaster.

We need people like Sean Casten, a scientist and Lauren Underwood, a health care professional in Congress. We do not need to listen to anyone claiming the clock can be turned back. The time forward needs to be fixed with clarion calls to do it right. We owe this to ourselves and the future. Hucksters peddling hoaxes are not needed.

Ed Marth

St. Charles