We deserve better than this

We can save lives and restore our economy quicker by taking COVID-19 seriously. By wearing a mask to protect one another and by getting help to the American people. For one in six businesses, the devastation of COVID-19 has already meant losing the work of a lifetime. For millions of students, it has meant staying home from school and falling behind on learning. For our workers, it has meant layoffs, lower wages, fewer opportunities and more uncertainty about paying the rent or putting food on the table. For seniors, it has meant worry and isolation and huge risks to their health. And by the end of this year, American deaths from COVID-19 are expected to exceed the total number of battlefield deaths our nation suffered in all of World War II. This pandemic has touched every corner of the world but the scale of suffering in America has been disproportionate by any objective standard. It didn't have to be this bad. It should never have been about politics but uniting Americans just as we do in a time of war. But by downplaying the threat and politicizing basic public health measures, Washington politicians have needlessly prolonged the crisis and actively undermined our recovery. They've failed to deliver basic functions, like reliable testing and tracing, adequate PPE, support for schools and municipalities, aid to small businesses and the unemployed or the reliable digital infrastructure that our current reality requires. Sadly, our incumbent Congressman is a case in point. As recently as a month ago, he called masks "useless," and has regularly attacked the basic public health guidance we need to sustain a safe reopening of schools and businesses. He was the only California member of Congress in either party to vote against the Families First Coronavirus relief package and has voted against three subsequent relief measures. When everything is partisan, nothing gets done. If we want to get our lives and communities back to any semblance of normal, this must change. This is not a choice about lockdowns, fear or how tough our politicians think they are. It is a choice between working together to defeat a common enemy or more partisan chaos and more carnage. I've spent my career in the private sector, the majority at a business I started at my kitchen table that is still going strong. Long before COVID-19 forced changes in the way we work, our company pioneered new solutions for employees to work from anywhere — outside of coastal cities — so we can create more good-paying jobs in communities like ours. In business, you don't survive by retreating into partisan silos, dividing your team against each other and turning everything into a partisan sideshow. You listen to experts. You lead by example. And you bring people together to find the right solutions. This has never been more needed in America than it is right now. If I'm elected, I am committed to working with Republicans and Democrats — to listen and represent the people who vote for me and those who don't. It's literally what the job — and this crisis — requires. It's an approach that must apply with equal resolve to our tax code, our healthcare system, our battle against the wildfires that keep getting worse and keep starting in federally managed forests, and so much more. Because the way we've been doing things just isn't working. Brynne Kennedy is a candidate for Congress in California's 4th Congressional District, which includes the cities of Lincoln, Rocklin, Loomis, Roseville and Auburn. Learn more at www.brynneforcongress.com