What the virus has shown to so many constituents is that while the “experienced” politician can talk a good game when it comes to managing the state in good times, the ability for them to convert into war-time crisis leaders does not exist. We are seeing now that the leaders we elected, for one thing, are falling apart when the situation has dramatically changed.
So, returning to the question, can these new pedigreed candidates relate to the people that they will represent in their offices like the one I described?
These letters provide a window. What they envision is not business as usual anytime soon. And to boot, many whose livelihoods are based on these jobs may not see them come back for some time.
One can surmise that the total number of layoffs occurring (or will occur) could be a much higher number when taken into account other news about closures of smaller entities in the last month.
For us to fix anything means that leadership needs to come forward and state clearly what the numbers mean and what we should be concentrating on. Personally, to me, the answer is that the infection rate is just that, an infection rate and that we should be focused on hospitalizations and death rates when it comes to making policy.
“[n]epotism erodes public trust in government institutions, their integrity, and operations. It creates reasonable concerns that the decisions of government are not based on merit and objectivity, but on family relations.”
In reporting the layoffs, the effect of this on the veracity of the news was said best by Kristen:
“That means fewer journalists keeping the ‘powers that be’ in check, less questioning of authority, fewer answers to your burning questions and even more substandard information disseminated to the public,”
Over the past week, our government officials in Hawaii have been pivoting their “public” focus from the re-opening of the local (we call it Kama’aina) economy to that of the tourism economy.
To many, an exclamation of “about time” was raised as it is very clear that no real recovery can be made to Hawaii’s economy without the re-introduction of tourism into it.
Yup, you determined that the Mayors of the counties needed to stop making their own rules over interpretation and enforcement of the COVID 19 response, and made every single issue from it now your responsibility.
This last week in Hawaii a number of different events happened at the government and society that leads me to do a “week in review” type post for today (4/18)