This Is All Just Too Hard

Raised to expect "the apocalypse" during his lifetime, author Johnny Townsend tackles the serious issues of our day using both his Mormon background and his secular humanist beliefs. The only way to successfully deal with a global pandemic, or public health under any conditions, is to move to a system of universal healthcare. Additional ingredients for dismantling structural and institutional racism include ensuring tuition-free college and vocational training, universal taxpayer-funded childcare and pre-k education, fare-free public transportation, automatic voter registration, elimination of the Electoral College, ranked choice voting, plus nationwide vote-by-mail as well as in-person voting. If we are to improve the health of our citizens and our nation, we must reduce the extraordinary amount we spend on the military and police, and demand that the ultra-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share toward the public good. Such policy changes are also essential if we wish to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, a global catastrophe that will impact virtually every person on the planet. Townsend's essays show us that while societal progress is always hindered by inertia, the multiple crises we're facing provide us an opportunity to move forward.