Light at the End of the Dumpster Fire

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.

1. U.S. democracy survived. Autocrats often initially come to power through fair elections. They then solidify their rule by gutting democratic institutions; unseating the overlords becomes difficult or impossible. Nazi Germany is a case in point. Today’s Turkey and Hungary are others. A re-elected, emboldened Donald Trump would have further pursued that authoritarian path.
2. The election and its aftermath also ended the reign of an arguably sociopathic narcissist who was our worst president ever, to put the point relatively politely, and who sought to undo his defeat. While most congressional Republicans remained craven, a number of judges and local election officials (including Trump appointees and loyalists) did their jobs to protect our democracy.
3. The fact that we voted in a president who’s rational, competent, respectful of science and a fairly normal person would not ordinarily be big news, but this year it was.
4. While more folks would tout Joe Biden as slow and steady rather than an intellectual racehorse, his vast experience enables him to hit the ground running come January 20. He’ll need to do so.
5. Biden’s cabinet nominees and top associates – starting with our first female, Black and Asian-American vice president (!) – are largely a diverse, professional, highly qualified lot well suited to start rebuilding the country and our shattered standing in the world.
6. Given Trump’s track record, Biden’s victory will save many thousands of American lives through his administration’s far superior Covid crisis management and messaging.
7. We dodged many bullets. If Trump had not been such a jerk in handling Covid or in exposing himself to it (and losing crucial campaign time), he might have coasted to victory. He also might have triumphed if Pfizer had announced its promising vaccine test results just a week earlier (that is, before Election Day), if Biden had fallen ill or if Tara Reade had falsely accused Biden of sexual assault in October instead of back in April.
8. As detailed by this Vox article (which also informs items 9 and 10), the rapid development of coronavirus vaccines is a stunning accomplishment. It’s arguably as impressive as putting people on the moon.
9. The process for quickly developing these vaccines holds great promise for battling other current or future diseases This could prove crucial, given that future pandemics could be even worse.
10. Paul Krugman may be overly optimistic in declaring that “2020 Was the Year Reaganism Died.” But his core point remains valid: Reagan’s infamously mocking statement, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help'” was discredited by the year’s massive, poverty-mitigating government action.
11. Though what will become of the protests and publicity remains to be seen, 2020 saw greatly enhanced attention to racial justice issues, including the threats to Driving, Breathing or Living While Black.
12. The year could yield long-term environmental benefits, as employers realized they can cut back energy-consuming offices, commutes and business travel.
13. Democrats’ disappointing performances in Senate and House races put a damper on hopes for congressional action on climate change. But Biden’s election still opens the door to a great array of executive actions, starting with the United States rejoining the Paris climate accord.
14. Aside from Bill Clinton winning Georgia and Arizona once each, Biden was the first successful Democratic candidate in Georgia since 1980 and in Arizona since 1948. It’s a potential harbinger for future Democratic sunbelt success.
15. America often hubristically overestimates our ability to build democracies abroad, but Biden’s win could still help counteract authoritarian trends in some countries. Having a U.S. president who, however imperfectly, values democracy over dictators could make a difference for reformers and human rights advocates.
16. Biden’s victory also makes us potentially more secure regarding Russian cyberthreats, Chinese strategic and economic competition, possibly re-establishing a nuclear deal with Iran and taking the North Korean nuclear threat seriously, in contrast to Trump’s falling “in love” with Kim Jong Un.
17. While fools who refused to don masks often got more attention, many more Americans courageously carried out their jobs as health care workers and in a variety of other fields.
18. As a pandemic byproduct, huge numbers of homeless animals were adopted from shelters this year.
19. Zoom and other innovations brought us together in ways we hadn’t shared before, helping us make it through this most angst-ridden year.
20. Not everyone will agree with this pick, but…Bruce Springsteen came out with his best album in over a decade. Letter to You is largely about mortality, Bruce’s and his loved ones’ in particular. But songs like “See You in My Dreams” ring true for all sorts of loses in this year of Covid.

None of this masks the fact that 2020 is best described with expletives. What’s more, 2021 holds tremendous challenges and probably frustrations. Even if America manages to put Covid in the rearview mirror next year, much of the world will not be able to do so. And even though we will finally wipe four years of presidential excrement off our shoes come January 20, the stain will linger for a long time.

Still, we can grudgingly acknowledge that this most horrible of years set the stage for better days ahead.

Good riddance, 2020. Here’s hoping that 2021 brings far sunnier skies for everyone.