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Will 2023 Be Better Than 2022?

12/31/22
from The Wall Street Journal,
12/27/22:

Lessons Learned:

Students discuss the changes and lessons learned from the past year.

The most important lesson we learned in 2022 was the importance of health and the need to be grateful for it. It has been nearly three years since the Covid pandemic started, and the pain it caused should remind us to cherish our health.

—Safia Khan, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, English

A New Year of Truth: In 2022 we learned that even suppressed truth will be revealed. Take the FTX scandal, or the release of Twitter’s internal emails, or the revelation that Russia is less dominant than it seemed—the truth emerged to keep leaders accountable. That empowers the public to regain control by demanding accountability. And truth will soften the extremes in society. America could become less politically divided when the actual truth is revealed.

—Aman Majmudar, The University of Chicago, law, letters and society

A Lesson in the Democratic Process: On June 24, 2022, two major shifts in American politics vindicated the Americans who still have faith in the democratic process. And we needed it, for these instances have been dwindling. On that day, Congress passed the most significant federal restrictions on guns in 28 years. Regardless of what one feels about gun control, it was a landmark achievement for activists who had spent decades trying to pass stricter gun measures at the national level. On the same day, the Supreme Court, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturned Roe v. Wade. Again, regardless of one’s views on legalized abortion, the decision has to be seen as a victory for the pro-lifers and constitutional originalists who had been advocating for almost half a century. There’s a lesson from this single day in American politics: A movement of committed citizens can still change this country’s laws. Decades of work by Americans dedicated to a cause can bring about change. Evidence is mounting that more and more Americans are giving up on their ability to affect political change through democratic means. And if the nation’s citizens decide democratic means are no longer effective, the danger becomes that they will resort to undemocratic means. Should we be surprised that a quarter of Americans said it may “soon be necessary to take up arms” against the government, according to a recent University of Chicago poll? If faith in the democratic process continues to decline, we should expect American politics to become more unstable in 2023. But perhaps the lesson of 2022—the lesson of June 24—should remind Americans that the democratic process can still be effective.

—Thomas McKenna, Hillsdale College, political economy

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