Author’s Note: I started this newsletter with the intention of releasing one every Tuesday and Friday morning. Well, I think as long as I still have a demanding day job, I’m gonna have to cut back to a promise of one a week, mostly on Wednesdays, and then shorter ones dropping in when the spirit moves me, more like the way I used to run my blog. Like the man says, you get what you pay for. And since this is free, well—you’re getting every’ penny’s worth.
What Does Returning to Normal Mean?
After a year of dramatically changed lives as a result of the COVID virus, it appears the tide has turned and we are—as a country—making solid progress. Deaths and hospitalization rates are declining, several vaccines are being administered to an ever increasing (in general) number of people, and Americans are beginning to think and talk about coming out of this dark time.
Yet there remain unanswered questions, the most obvious of which is when largescale required mask use will end. It has become routine and far less of an inconvenience than when the practice began, but few Americans will miss this measure. It will be interesting to see whether there will be a cultural stickiness to it, as in some Asian cultures. Sitting with friends at a restaurant or bar, talking and laughing over drinks or dinner—this seems to be on anyone’s list of “normal”. In lots of places this is already possible, but often with occupancy limits.
Kids back in school seems more remote, especially given that the traditional summer vacation will provide some psychological stopping power, not to mention the monolithic behavior of teacher unions.
Air travel is another tough cookie. Domestic travel is easy, and American airlines are doing a great job in continuing to serve the traveling public. International travel is a very different question, what with forced quarantines and the possibility of having to show proof of inoculation looming. Given that much of the world will not have widespread access to vaccine stocks until later in the year with a good portion of humanity not likely to get jabbed until deep into 2022, it is difficult to know how this part of what used to be “normal” will shake out, and when it will return to the way it was.
As for the inoculations themselves, what happens next year? Does the COVID shot get re-administered on an annual basis like flu shots? Or is it more like measles or shingles?
Arena and stadium-based sporting events? College football spring practice is just around the corner, and after missing out on UVA football in person last year, I find myself unable to feel that things will be “normal” in the fall without it and a full stadium.
Trump at CPAC
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is being held over the next few days in Florida, a more hospitable location for a group of people somewhat less observant of fashionable public health guidance than its previous location in Maryland allowed for. You can look over the offerings at this link.
I went to CPAC a few months after Mitt Romney lost in 2012, for a couple of reasons. First, I was a conservative, and this was pretty much the premier event of the year with the word “conservative” in the title. Second, I knew a number of 2016 hopefuls were on the speaking list, and I wanted to get a good look at them. After losing a few months earlier, I had a pretty fair sense that 2016 would be a good presidential year for the GOP, and so I figured I’d get a jump on seeing who the hopefuls were. I was not prepared for what I would see.
First (and much like the 2012 GOP Convention that I attended), it was a freak-show. Old hands told me that it was always that way, and that CPAC was worse than the GOP convention if for no other reason than there was a determined and loud bunch of libertarians who showed up each year. That many of them were college students made it even worse, as the earnestness level was off the charts (Rand Paul won the straw poll conducted going away). Also on the speakers list was one Donald Trump, who I listened to for just a few minutes before moving on to one of the other carnival side-shows being offered. Honestly, I had no idea.
Looking over this year’s group and agenda, two things are clear. First, that CPAC is even worse a freak-show than in 2013, and second, that while there are some important conservative items under discussion, the degree to which the affair is a Trump love-in is overwhelming. This should not be a surprise, as the folks who put it on were among Trump’s most ardent fluffers.
CPAC was never really where conservatives of ideas felt comfortable. It was where performative, social conservatives and libertarians gathered to wallow, with conservatives of ideas speaking to them in the hopes of picking off enough of them for their upcoming campaigns. From the looks of it now, it is a three day Trump rally.
Parting Shots
New new team taking care of business.