I grew up in St. Louis MO, lived here until 1966. I left town in pursuit of graduate education, and later of work. After I retired I moved back to St. Louis after forty years away, looking forward to being able to visit the places and streets I loved in Old St. Louis. Well, many of these have been torn down or otherwise effaced, and the rest cannot not be visited, even in the daytime, because of widespread gun-violence. City government is a mess, so there will be no help there, and St. Louis County is still a jigsaw puzzle of different and conflicting jurisdictions. So much for St. Louis.

I had been proud to be from Missouri. I thought of it as a Harry Truman sort of state, a little short on the airs and graces, but polite, honest, smart, and even progressive. Missouri really tried to take care of its people. I did not recognize the Missouri to which I returned. It’s government is dominated by Republican stumble-bums who have been elected by a people that has become reactionary, racist, bigoted, and stingy.

I read in today’s Post-Dispatch that of all the states, Missouri ranks fiftieth in the percentage of people who have been given the COVID vaccine. Why am I not surprised? The Governor, a Trumpian, followed his Master in refusing to acknowledge the gravity and peril of the COVID pandemic. The Republicans in Missouri, likewise infected with Trumpism, were obviously much more concerned about pleasing anti-maskers and businessmen than they were about the health of the community.

So, in addition to the screw-up of vaccine distribution at the national level, a Trump legacy, we learn of a serious failure at the state level, and the two will push the defeat of COVID19 into the remote future.