Heed the call, lawmakers.  The times are a-changin’.

The reaction to the Biden-Harris win in Pennsylvania stimulated spontaneous dancing in the streets of Philadelphia and across the country.  Now a week later, the razor thin Biden victory speaks volumes about the state of the Pennsylvania electorate. 

For down-ballot Democrats, the music stopped at the top of the ticket. Unexpected losses in the statewide races for Auditor General and Treasurer stunned party loyalists.  Just yesterday the election results confirmed that the PA House Democratic Leader was sent packing, after serving for 29 years. 

The anticipated Blue Wave of 2020 never materialized in PA.  Instead, a surprisingly strong Red showing enabled Republicans to expand their majority in the State House (113 R, 90 D) and maintain their firm grip on the State Senate (28 R, 21 D, 1 Ind).  In southeastern PA, we even lost two kids’ allies, Senator Killion (R- Delco) and Representative Ullman (D-Bucks).  

As pundits, pollsters, and politicians attempt to explain the paradoxical election results, it’s clear that the Governor’s shut down at the start of the pandemic helped spur a renewed conservative grassroots activism that many suggest contributed to the unexpectedly strong Republican showing.  Now, as COVID swings back and extensive closure decisions are being revisited, elected officials are weighing public health against their political futures if they support far-reaching closures. 

Scientists tell us the virus is long from running its course so federal, state, and local elected officials must take proactive and decisive actions to stop the COVID spread. AND they must deploy sufficient resources to ensure family incomes don’t collapse, children are safe, and learning progresses.

There is a long way to go to get this right. Not doing it right puts our children’s education, social development, and mental health at risk.  (Shocking news today with CDC data showing that suicidal behavior among children and youth is skyrocketing.) 

The election results also tell us that more Pennsylvanians are taking greater interest in their government, with historic turnout in cities and suburban communities.  It’s in the interest of both parties to note this change and recognize that if they don’t start planning and investing in our post-COVID recovery, they’re going to be facing challengers two years from now.

For example, federal and state lawmakers know full well that child care programs are going broke, hastening the pace of permanent closures already affecting thousands of working families.  Left unabated, when the economy rebounds, millions of mothers and fathers will ask elected officials how the basic element of infrastructure needed to enable them to return work was permitted to disintegrate during the COVID crisis.

Schools educate our children, and they are also a critical element of the infrastructure that enable parents to go to work.  School districts, wealthy and poor alike, are being battered with ballooning PPE and remote instruction costs; local tax receipts are weak and may tank as the virus roars on.  Every lawmaker may find an unhappy electorate in the next election, if after winning the 2020 race, they fail to provide resources for our children to learn and succeed.

Last week, as votes were being tallied and voters danced in the streets to the modern anthems of justice and change, Bob Dylan’s 1964 warning siren to negligent leaders still holds true:

“Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call. Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall. For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled.  There’s a battle outside ragin’. It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.  For the times, they are a-changin’.”  

Yes they are.