It’s time to get back to work — and come together.
The polls are closed and the counting has begun in the most turbulent and — many say consequential — U.S. election in generations.
As millions voted by mail or in person in recent weeks — masked up, socially distanced and at times waiting for rain-soaked hours to make their voices heard — WWD asked more than 75 fashion leaders what the next administration’s first priority should be.
The responses add up to a kind of secular prayer in the midst of overlapping crises, a plaintive cry for something more from Washington.
More unity, more coordination to overcome COVID-19, more progress on social justice, more support for small businesses and the unemployed, more work on climate change. More, more, more.
The question was party-neutral, asked as former vice president Joe Biden surged in the polls and President Trump fought to pull out another ballot-box stunner with the help of swing states or the Electoral College. But some rejected even the possibility of four-more years of a Trump administration and preferred to focus on what a President Biden could do.
Everyone saw the stakes as high.
Greg Petro, ceo, First Insight:
I believe that whomever takes office is going to have to have the concept of the needs of people. In my mind, it starts with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The basis of all foundation is safety. My fundamental belief system is our citizens should be comfortable and safe. People, innocent individuals who are just living their lives out have a fundamental right to feel and be safe. I think it’s the government’s fundamental responsibility to provide that level of security. That fundamentally speaks to a number of areas and issues, first and foremost, there are external factors that we’ll always face as a society, whether it will be global warming, pandemics, but I think the government and the leaders of our government, starting with the president of the U.S., is to provide a societal structure that allows for people to feel safe, given all the other challenges. If you can’t feel comfortable in your house, or going shopping, or doing anything, everything else breaks down after that.
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