America as a Developing Country
2020 was literally catastrophic. But here are 20 big ways in which it wasn’t all bad.
For whatever reason, I still recall a 1997 TV ad tag line for the telecommunications company MCI: “Is this a great time or what?”
No sane person would say that about 2020. The year brought us an endless array of developments to despair about. I’ve decried some myself, such as here and here.
Rather than add another compendium of miseries to the universe, I’ll instead note some things that went right or where the good at least mitigated the bad. Here are 20 for 2020.
[Continue Reading]Early data for the Senate runoffs is encouraging.
As an update to my last post about next Tuesday’s crucial Senate elections in Georgia, some new data point in positive Democratic directions for those January 5 runoffs.
The latest fivethirtyeight.com polling averages show modest upticks and leads for both Democrats. Raphael Warnock is up nearly two points over Kelly Loeffler. Jon Ossoff has erased a slight deficit to now edge David Perdue by one point.
[Continue Reading]Both Senate races are winnable. What we can do.
Despite the stakes, most news outlets and Americans are paying relatively little heed to the most important non-presidential U.S. elections in our lifetimes: the two Georgia Senate runoff races, which will be decided on January 5.
[Continue Reading]When can we hug again? The question is part of a complex picture.
One thing we all share due to Covid is that we cannot share a hug with so many who mean so much to us.
We’re fortunate if a lack of hugs is the worst of our problems, given the suffering across the globe and the fact that Americans will get vaccinated long before much of the world does.
Still, it isn’t a sin to feel the loss of something as basic and vital as that human touch.
So when will H-Day arrive? That is, when will Covid vaccinations allow us to safely hug non-household friends and loved ones again?
[Continue Reading]We started this week.
Bruce Springsteen’s 2006 song, “Long Walk Home,” offered a stark metaphor for George W. Bush’s America. The protagonist returns to a hometown peopled by friends who, having abandoned their ideals, have become strangers to him.
Since 2016, that feeling has rung true for many of us, arguably to an even greater extent.
But the song is also resolute and hopeful about the long walk back to enduring ideals, a better town and a better country. Its most memorable lines are:
[Continue Reading]You know that flag flying over the courthouse means certain things are set in stone
Who we are, what we’ll do and what we won’t