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Top Ten reasons 2021 was way better than 2020

Here is my top ten list of good news. I want to make clear that this is not a Pollyanna list of minor accomplishments that ignores all the bad news of 2021. It's a companion to all the lists of bad things that happened in 2021. And everything on this list is seriously good.

  1. Democrats won two Senate seats in Georgia. This was something of a miracle, and without it liberals would have gotten absolutely nothing for the rest of the year.
  2. Joe Biden was inaugurated president. Donald Trump did his best to stop it, but failed on all fronts.
  3. Multiple highly effective vaccines were rolled out to fight COVID-19. Today, anyone who is vaxxed and boosted runs only a tiny risk of contracting a serious case of COVID.
  4. Congress passed a $1.9 trillion rescue bill. This bill provided an expanded child tax credit; bigger subsidies for Obamacare; extended the $300 unemployment bonus; mailed out $1,400 checks to everyone; and provided nearly half a billion dollars to states and schools.
  5. After 20 years, we finally withdrew from Afghanistan. It was messy, but in the end the Pentagon pulled it off with minimal casualties.
  6. Congress passed a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill.
  7. Joe Biden and Senate Democrats confirmed 40 federal judges, a one-year record. They will continue to confirm judges for at least another year.
  8. Georgia passed a bill that would effectively give a Republican commission the authority to overturn election results in Democratic counties. This, rather than routine tightening of election laws, is the real danger to democracy that we face. However, over the course of the year no similar bill was passed anywhere else. (Arkansas came the closest, but their new law is meaningless in practice since Arkansas is the reddest state in the Union and will vote for a Republican president regardless.) Don't just write this off as Kevin trying to make lemonade out of putrid lemons. It shows that there are real limits to anti-democratic actions from Republicans when we fight back.
  9. Serious progress was made on development of a "super vaccine" that will be effective against a wide variety of coronaviruses. If this pans out, we will have vaccines that are not only effective against all COVID variants, but are ready to go at the first sign of a fourth SARS-like coronavirus outbreak (the first three were SARS, MERS, and COVID).
  10. Britney is finally free.

In case you're wondering why I've left the economy off this list, it's because I've had second thoughts about it. With low unemployment and strong growth, it's unquestionably better than 2020. At the same time, we're also suffering through high inflation, wage declines, and falling savings. For a lot of people, the economy doesn't really look so great right now.

18 thoughts on “Top Ten reasons 2021 was way better than 2020

  1. Jasper_in_Boston

    Does anybody know if the Georgia law at least requires some degree of substantive problem with the vote for the GOP to overturn election results? Because if not (and if there's no successful legal challenge to this bill) it sounds as if Georgia is in the bag for the Republicans in 2024 (as well as the Senate seat next year).

    1. Doctor Jay

      My guess is that the law will not be addressed or changed until someone actually uses it, at which point there will be legal challenges, and a bunch of publicity and politics about it. When they actually do it, that's when it will get people's attention.

      I expect many are thinking of it as a "use once" kind of thing, as well as placating their voters by "doing something".

    2. MontyTheClipArtMongoose

      Just keep repeating Herschel Walker's Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Sufferer's understanding of Build Back Better, & hopefully Georgians will prove smarter than Alabamians in pulling the lever for the college football guy.

  2. KawSunflower

    Thank you for providing jabberwocky, your facts & positive attitude & hope despite some of them - & fo, respite, cat blogging with Hopper, Hilbert & Charlie.

    My wish for you & Marian & the cats:

    ¡ Salud y amor y tiempo para disfrutarlo !

  3. Doctor Jay

    I nod at your remarks about the economy, and add only one thing. The problems we are having now are, in fact, the problems we sought to have a year ago. That is success in a very difficult environment. And yet, it isn't great, because of course it isn't. How could it be?

  4. jamesepowell

    In re #5

    A Jesus-centered coffee shop near me has a memorial to the 13 people killed in the attack in Kabul during the last days of the withdrawal. 13 red, white, and blue coffee cups. Each one with a name on it & a flag sticking out of the lid.

    I wonder why the other 2400+ didn't get this kind of recognition.

  5. KawSunflower

    Yes, know why - because getting our after trump cut the Afghan government out of dealings with the Taliban means that the delayed exit was all Biden's fault.

    Those folks need to help some Afghan refugees settle here.

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