Our last Council meeting lasted 16 hours over 6 days. We received an unprecedented number of public comments (over 2,200, when our prior record was probably 400-ish) in response to a debate all across the state and country: who should be in charge of this pandemic.
In my view, which is the minority on the Council though the majority of St. Louis County, our County Executive, Dr. Page, and our directors of public health should be the ones setting strategy, making decisions, and leading all the rest of us through this public health emergency. The opposite view believes that politicians should be involved in the decision-making process.
As a general rule, I'd probably agree with that. But not in an emergency that's exacerbated across our country because those siding with Trump and the republicans have perpetuated some seriously outlandish bullshit about the virus itself and mitigation efforts (including mask wearing and social distancing) intended to control the spread. Because we're not all on the same page about even the existence of a global pandemic, much less about how we can work together as a community to protect each other, the virus surges uncontrollably outside of St. Louis County.
The three republicans on the Council were able to convince one of the democrats to join their crusade to strip emergency powers away from our County Executive and directors of our public health department, and their bill passed yesterday.
For weeks, I stressed about this piece of legislation. I lost sleep over the burning in my gut. I tried to imagine a compromise and gave advice I thought mind mend some fences. I even went so far as to consider joining the other side in exchange for dropping a super majority requirement (meaning that it would only require a majority of the Council to continue public safety orders). This thing ate me alive.
And then the County Executive was like, "I will veto this bill if it passes." And just like a poof of magic, all of that stress, anxiety, and burn in the gut just disappeared.
And along with it came the realization that, holy crap!, my life doesn't change one iota if this piece of legislation passes. And with that, I was flooded with other realizations about how I can only control two things in politics. The first is my vote. The second is how I use my words and actions to influence others. What I can't control are others' votes, how others think and view the world, and the ultimate outcome of any piece of legislation.
It's hard for a type-A control freak to cede control, and it's a struggle I've worked on all year. Maybe this experience with this piece of legislation will open up the door for me to legislate (and live!) completely free of the burden of responsibility over outcomes and others...
