Coronavirus Warning

Something in the “The Logic of Failing” reading really resonated with me. With wanting to go into politics, I often see the ways to act on an issue as good intentions vs. bad (or misinformed) intentions. However, as stated by the article, it is so much more than that. You can have the best intentions and still end up messing up a situation more because you aren’t asking enough why questions and you don’t see the ramifications of all of your actions, such was the case with the various simulations that were referenced in the article. The reading made me think back to something I mentioned in the slack discussion on Monday. It is difficult to know for sure if you are acting the correct way or making the correct changes when enacting change. At the time, I claimed that you should just act on the things that you believe need to be changed and future generations may not be happy with the changes but you made the decision you needed to at the time. However, now I see that it is more complex than that. The decisions you make could end up having serious ramifications that are detrimental to future generations if you aren’t well informed. Thus, with being well informed you can see some of the future ramifications and avoid them and hopefully make better decisions than if you had just left the interpretation of the decisions completely up to future generations.

Particularly, this reading made me think about government oversight. In trying to solve an issue, especially a time sensitive issue, there is likely to be oversight. However, I wonder if some of this oversight is worthwhile when considering the necessity of the issue that leads to the inability to be completely informed despite the best of intentions. Specifically, I am thinking of the recent stimulus package for COVID-19. The stimulus package leaves out a chunk of people residing in America and paying taxes. This includes undocumented immigrants, people 18 and over and claimed as a dependent on someone else’s taxes in 2019, and the elderly and disabled claimed by someone else as a dependent. For example, a 23 year old that is living on their own, out of school, working a full time job is not included in the stimulus package because the prior year they were still in school and listed a dependent on their parent’s tax form. Nor does the parent get the additional $500 for claiming them because they are no longer a child. This creates an oversight that leaves out many Americans. Despite the good intentions of the stimulus package, there are negative ramifications that can include and expectation for people to be able to pay rent, instead of a rent freeze, despite that fact that not everyone is eligible to the stimulus check. However, is this oversight worth it? The American people needed some form of comfort quickly during this pandemic. The stimulus package gives them that. So, it is worth the negative ramifications to warrant brief comfort to those who do receive the stimulus check?