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Comment by altec3 | Hacker News Reader

I think what gdubs was trying to get across is that sure, there are problems, people to blame, etc. but now is not the time. We have to get our act together and handle the situation. We can't have petty fighting betweeen parties.

Now is the time to unite and act. We can fight, argue and point fingers once this is all behind us.

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Now is the time for leadership. If leadership is lacking, we don't star singing Kumbaya and offering platitudes about "unity" in the face of malpractice, we loudly and firmly demand better leadership.

You are right. Unfortunately we need good strong leadership focused on protecting not just numbers on a candlestick chart but actual real people. Our current president has proven completely incapable of that and should immediately step aside. I am no fan of Pence but he at least likely capable of listening to experts and following their recommendations. The markets reaction to last night Oval office speech is reason enough to prove the nation has lost confidence in its current occupant.

i don’t usually post on political topics but... i’m not so sure about pence... [0]

if we are lucky, hopefully he’s learned from that but i’m not holding my breath

[0] https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pences-pray-it-plan-combat-ind...

They're literally blocking COVID emergency budget bills getting passed in the Senate

This is time to fall in line or be thrown out of your job.

Why don't Republicans need to fall in line when Democrats pass much needed relief for coronavirus?

That's who he is talking about, the republicans are blocking it.

At least one bill is being blocked because it doesn't have language prohibiting the money to be used for abortion. The money would be used to fight Covid-19 pandemic, but for some reason, it's critical that the money in no way go to abortion.

https://www.salon.com/2020/03/12/gop-delays-coronavirus-bill...

You act like we aren't capable of doing two things at once.

Sorry, I am perfectly capable of acting while still pointing my finger at the people who are actively trying to make this worse.

Maybe you can afford to play kum-bay-yah but perhaps it's not your life or the lives of your loved ones which have been doomed by this ineptitude. Civility is poison to irrational discourse.

The fighting between the parties hasn't been petty for years now. It's frequently a disagreement on basic factual information. Solving problems is something that can be done when everyone understands and agrees on what the problem actually is.

I don't expect to be able to craft useful public health policy in discussion with an antivaxxer or space exploration policy with a flat earther – the idea of "unite and act" is be absurd when dealing with people who lack the ability to admit they can be wrong/consider multiple perspectives/think critically. And yet that's basically where we stand today politically.

> Fact-checkers and scientists have scrambled to correct the misinformation coming out of the White House. (No, the virus has not been “contained” in America; no, testing is not available to anybody who wants it; no, people shouldn’t go to work if they’re sick.) But Trump’s message seems to have resonated with his base: A Quinnipiac University poll released this week found that just 35 percent of Republicans are concerned about the virus, compared with 68 percent of Democrats. [1]

If the other side doesn't even agree with you this is a problem that needs serious attention to be solved, how are we going to get our act together?

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/03/trump-c...

> I think what gdubs was trying to get across is that sure, there are problems, people to blame, etc. but now is not the time.

Now is absolutely the time, because:

> We have to get our act together and handle the situation.

And identifying the problems in the approach to date is an essential element of course correction.

> Now is the time to unite and act.

No, now is the time to identify the problems in our actions to date and course correct to appropriate actions. “Unite and act” is pointless or counterproductive without that.

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