Much work to be done as we turn the page on a roller coaster year

One year ago, in January 2022, cautious optimism reigned supreme. COVID-19 was still a serious concern, especially since the omicron variant was just beginning to emerge, but the world was returning to a newfound sense of peace and normalcy.

In the first week of the new year, all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — issued a rare joint statement condemning nuclear war in all forms. A few weeks later, U.S. Special Forces under the direction of President Joe Biden killed Islamic State terrorist leader Abu Ibrahim al-hashimi al-qurashi — the successor to Abu Bakr al-baghdadi. And on Feb. 4, the 2022 Olympic Winter Games captivated viewers from around the world.

That was just 11 months ago, but it feels like a lifetime. The year 2022 was the roller coaster that none of us wanted to be on. And after several years of social, political, economic and wartime upheaval, the cautious optimism that defined the first six weeks of the year feels like a dream.

War is raging in Ukraine. With the support of Iran, Vladimir Putin has new weapons in his civilian-targeting arsenal of war crimes and death from the skies. Nor should the public or our leaders forget that both China and India have helped keep Russia afloat during Putin’s monstrous terror campaign.

Another war is playing out in our communities between the right to publicly carry a weapon designed to inflict mass casualties and the rights of children to go to school, parents to go to the grocery store, families to go to parades and people of faith to go to houses of worship without fear of slaughter.

The House of Representatives will soon be in the hands of Republican leaders who looked the other way or even provided active support when disgraced former President Donald Trump organized a violent coup that killed multiple police officers at our nation’s capital.

And the U.S. Supreme Court is under the control of conservative idealogues with few reservations about overturning decades of established precedent. That same conservative (and some would argue religiously based) dogma is driving discussions of book bans and the silencing of discourse in our nation’s schools and classrooms.

There is certainly work to be done. And yet as we usher in 2023, there are also good reasons for a return to cautious optimism.

The people of Ukraine, under the leadership of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, remain resolute and have forced a stalemate in what was once thought to be a lost cause. The Western alliance of civilized nations held firm in support of an independent Ukraine with the understanding that the nation is indeed fighting to preserve freedom across Europe.

For the most part, American voters rejected the most extreme elements of the GOP in November. And the referral of criminal charges by the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol to the Department of Justice has opened the door to the possibility that Trump may finally face consequences for his treasonous plot to overthrow the government.

Inflation is still high but is trending downward. And the Biden administration successfully passed an unprecedented number of bills to finally address the nation’s ongoing environmental and infrastructure disasters. In the process, Biden took steps to rectify the harm of the unjust war on drugs, aid victims of predatory student loan practices and enshrine long-overdue interracial and samesex marriage rights into federal law.

Perhaps most importantly, Biden is leading the charge to return manufacturing and supply chains to the Western Hemisphere, promoting growth in the economies of the Americas and diminishing our reliance on China and other southeast Asian nations.

These are all reasons for optimism as we begin the new year. And they are calls to action on the work that is yet to be done.

Ukraine needs our continuing support, including money and weapons to protect its skies, cities and infrastructure.

The U.S., on the other hand, needs fewer weapons of war spilling blood on our streets and in our schools.

Our vigilance must continue to prevent extremists who seek to overthrow democratic norms from holding office beginning on Day 1 of the new legislative session, with the expulsion of George Santos from the House and the filing of charges by the Justice Department against Trump.

We need economic policies that level the playing field and promote middle-class prosperity rather than bailouts for billionaires. We need environmental policies that don’t sacrifice the health, well-being and safety of many Americans for the financial profit of a few. Not only is this good policy, but it can also demonstrate that good government can work for all Americans, blocking autocrats from gaining further footholds in our democracy.

One strategy that both Democrats and Republicans should be able to get behind is continuing Biden’s efforts at nearshoring and onshoring manufacturing and supply chains to the Western Hemisphere. By returning production to the Americas, we can bring good-paying jobs to the U.S., reduce carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, and bring economic stability to our neighbors in Central and South America.

This plan would also help address the U.S. border crisis, which is taking countless innocent lives due to our unwillingness to negotiate in good faith on a plan that provides clear guidelines, prompt decisions and robust social services to those we deem eligible.

The United States is among the most hard-working and innovative countries in the world. We can achieve all of these goals and more. But to do so we must hold ourselves and our elected officials accountable and accept nothing less than honorable public services and success.

There is certainly work to be done. And yet as we usher in 2023, there are also good reasons for a return to cautious optimism.