Nothing Works — And Everything Matters Profoundly
“Nothing works and nothing matters.” This idea seems to auto-complete much that is in the atmosphere at this fraught moment. It is a kind of nihilism that has afflicted Democrats ever since the ascension of Donald Trump. “Nothing works and nothing matters.”
But: Is it just my eyes that tear up when I think of our wounded country? Despite things not working on so many levels, it matters mightily — not just to me but, I venture, to masses more. Rather than feeling numb or truly nihilistic, masses of Americans have never cared more deeply or agonized more anxiously about the outcome of a presidential election than the one nine days away. “Nothing works — and everything matters profoundly.”
The “Nothing works” idea signifies in two ways. One is the mechanical, the functional. Most notable example, of course: the dysfunctional federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, now claiming 225,000 American lives —that is, a quarter-million — with this Friday seeing the highest daily infection rate yet — almost 83,000; worse is to come with winter. Bollix is due to an incompetent President, but also to fellow citizens refusing to mask up. Even the vaunted Centers for Disease Control is rendered less functional: Its initial missteps, exacerbated by disinformation, have created a cloud over its pronouncements.
