5 Reasons for New Year’s Optimism - Rob Horowitz

5 Reasons for New Year’s Optimism - Rob Horowitz

For the past 8 years, I’ve written a New Year’s column listing reasons for optimism (click here to see how I did last year)  This year I do the same. It remains the nature of news and opinion writing that positive developments get short shrift.

As 2021 is about to begin, 5 reasons for optimism are outlined below:

- The end of the Trump Presidency provides an opportunity to heal our nation’s divisions, shore up our democracy and solve the big challenges ahead.  While our polarized, poisonous and dysfunctional national politics did not begin with President Trump, he made nearly everything worse, flooding the media in the apt words of Jonathan Rauch with a ‘firehose of falsehood” and working overtime to exploit our racial and cultural divisions for political gain. It is not an aberration, but completely in character that Mr. Trump is ending his presidency with a futile, falsehood-ridden, and dangerous attempt to overturn the will of the people and finagle a way to cling to power—a disgraceful act that even Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post calls ‘cheering for an undemocratic coup."

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- The rapid development of highly effective vaccines provides the realistic prospect that the COVID-19 pandemic will be mainly in the rearview mirror by this time next year.  There has already been a marked decrease in Americans’ resistance to being vaccinated. Continuing public education, featuring trusted national and community leaders getting vaccinated, should enable us to reach the goal of 80% or so of us getting the needed shot or shots and achieving herd immunity.  This major accomplishment of scientists, which builds on general breakthroughs in how to construct effective vaccinations, also provides hope for our ability to better handle future pandemics. The Trump Administration deserves credit for Operation Warp Speed, the public-private partnership that accelerated the “development, manufacture and distribution” of COVID-19 vaccines.

- President-elect Biden, in his quality environmental appointments, including naming John Kerry his special envoy on the climate, and in his proclaimed priorities, has demonstrated his commitment to take on the climate challenge, pledging to put it at the center of his presidency.  Restoring American leadership at home and abroad on taking the actions needed to limit global temperature increases since the pre-industrial era to the 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit that scientists say will enable us to avoid the worst consequences of global warming will supply the missing ingredient to making the rapid progress that is required. Proactive United States leadership, beginning with Biden’s commitment to rejoin the Global Climate Accords on day one, coupled with other positive developments, including Great Britain’s commitment to phase out coal by 2025, stepped up commitments by the European Union and China to renewable energy, and the continuing steep reduction in costs for renewable non-carbon producing energy, particularly solar and wind, provide the solid foundation upon which to build, so that we ensure that we leave our children with a habitable planet.

- The small group of US Senators, including Mitt Romney(R-UT) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), who came together and broke the logjam on the COVID stimulus package, enabling its passage, offer a glimmer of hope for the resurrection of bi-partisanship.  In a closely divided House and Senate, principled compromises are going to be required in order to get important things done.  The combination of this group of 8 to 10 US Senators of both parties that broke through 4 or 5 months of stalemate on COVID relief and the 50 or so members of the Problem-Solvers Caucus in the House that are evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans may enable President Biden to achieve some major legislative accomplishments on the major challenges we face, showing that partisan gridlock has not become a permanent feature of our democracy.

- The great thing about being a sports fan is that when your team doesn’t do well, there is always next season. After a 20-year run for the record books, Patriots fans are finding that out this year. While my Giants made some strides this year and because their division is so awful, still have an outside chance to make the playoffs, they will end the season again with a losing record.  But with a much improved defense, an improved offensive line, and the return of star running back, Saquon Barkley added to the further development of the promising young quarterback Daniel Jones, I stubbornly believe that my team remains on a path back to recapturing this storied franchise’s former glory. 

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits, businesses, and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.