Doomscrolling Antidote

 The last five years have featured New Year's reminiscences that basically revolved around the theme of "Well, that sucked, I hope next year is better."

It is the nature of being Extremely Online (or cable news) that only shitty stories land and "engage." So we focus on terrible things and fail to recognize that many good things happened.

First, the year began with Warnock and Ossoff winning and giving Biden the opportunity to pass legislation and confirm judges. The next day, Trump's coup failed and created yet another black mark on the Republican Party. He became the first president to be impeached twice. Just about every court has ruled against America's new Nazis.

Second, Biden and Democrats managed to pass an incredible amount of social spending that created one of the most robust economic recoveries in history, so that what we are worried about now is inflation!

Third, Biden ended the Afghanistan War, a pointless sucking hole of money and lives that had exhausted its purpose a decade ago. Drone strikes are down.

Wages rose (INFLATION!) and labor has become more empowered than they have been in decades. Unemployment is basically not an issue any more.

Vaccination rates are simultaneously low and high. Yes, we've hit a wall of ignorance and denial, but if you want one, you have had one.  That's amazing. The new mRNA vaccines will change the world, in ways we can't imagine.

Derek Chauvin, Ghislaine Maxwell and the McMichaels went to prison.

A year ago, we wondered if America's justice system would convict murderous cops and rich, connected pedophiles. Now we know it can. The problem with our economy is that it's possibly TOO healthy. The latest wave of Covid might very well be the wave where it turns from a deadly illness to a rough cold.

Things aren't uniquely terrible. Josh Marshall compares this era to World War II, a finite tough time. Looking back, World War II's results and the eventual blossoming that came from it seem foreordained. That was hardly the case of those living through them.

For all his depredations, Trump's imprint on American law was minimal. True, his justices could warp the law for decades, but the people tend to win over the courts in the end. He battered our institutions, but he did not break them. 

I do think things can get better and will.