If you know the old musical SOUTH PACIFIC, you may remember these lyrics:
I have heard people rant and rave and bellow
That we're done and we might as well be dead,
But I'm only a cockeyed optimist
And I can't get it into my head.
I hear the human race
Is fallin' on its face
And hasn't very far to go,
But ev'ry whippoorwill
Is sellin' me a bill,
And tellin' me it just ain't so.
I could say life is just a bowl of Jello
And appear more intelligent and smart,
But I'm stuck like a dope
With a thing called hope,
And I can't get it out of my heart!
Not this heart.
I don’t know about you but I am very weary of the negative tone so much of the news takes these days. Yes, yes, I know that it is not like everything is lollipops and roses, but I am tired of hearing about all that is failing, all the bills that won’t get passed, all the nasty diatribes, the disappointments, the coming civil war, the hate, and on and on.
I do tend to be an optimist (though some days, like many of you, it is hard to boost myself out of bed into this crazy pandemic world) and I do think trying to look for the positive really helps. I do tend to be a dope with a thing called hope!
I got an encouraging email from our local Democratic Party today. If you haven’t figured it out already that I am, as my Uncle Mickey labeled our family members, “yellow dog Democrats”, you might not have been reading my blog very carefully.
Anyway, I am going to share here all that has been accomplished this past year. There is a lot to celebrate. Some truly good things have happened this past year and we need to take as much time to celebrate as we take to complain.
So here goes….
“One year ago this week, President Biden and Vice President Harris took office amid several crises and promised to move quickly to deliver results for working families. That’s what they’ve done.
Got Shots in Arms & Saved Lives: President Biden set up a historic vaccination program that resulted in more than 200 million Americans fully vaccinated this year: almost 75% of all adults. Millions of teenagers and children are now vaccinated, and tens of millions of Americans are getting booster shots. And, about 96% of schools are open. All these steps have and continue to save countless lives.
Got People Back to Work: President Biden has grown the economy faster than in decades and added 6.4 million jobs - more in one year than ever on record. Recent average weekly unemployment claims are down near a level not seen in decades. Economic growth is the strongest in two generations.
Passed Laws to Create Jobs & Rebuild Crumbling Infrastructure: President Biden got the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed -- the most impactful legislative agenda for a first year president in modern history. The American Rescue Plan led to what experts estimate will be the lowest child poverty rate on record and the unemployment rate is down to 3.9% two years faster than initially projected. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will create jobs, provide clean drinking water, upgrade our roads, airports, and rail, and is a critical first step towards a clean energy future – and for the first time in 20 years, U.S. infrastructure investment will grow faster than China’s this year.
Expanded Affordable Health Care: President Biden increased the number of Americans with health care coverage to the highest number ever, and slashed premiums for millions – as a result of his actions, hundreds of thousands of Americans pay premiums as low as $10. He just finalized rules to ban surprise billing, an issue that has been particularly concerning to Americans in the past few years, and lowered the co-pays that many Americans pay.
Restored America’s Global Leadership: President Biden restored our global alliances and ended America’s longest war. For the first time in a generation, Americans are not deployed overseas in an ongoing war. The United States donated and delivered nearly 400 million vaccinations to developing countries – more than every other country in the world.
Took Aggressive Action to Tackle the Climate Crisis: President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement and reestablished U.S. leadership at the global conference on climate change. He jump started an electric future made in America, tripling production of electric vehicles in a year. He is deploying more wind and solar energy than ever before, addressing the long-lasting negative effects of legacy pollution and advancing environmental justice in underserved communities, and creating good-paying, union jobs that are making our country stronger and more resilient to the changing climate.
Formed a Government That Looks Like America: President Biden was the first president since Reagan to get all his initial picks for the statutory cabinet confirmed, and the first president ever to have a cabinet that truly looks like America: the first Cabinet that is half female and majority non-white.
Advanced Racial Equity: President Biden signed a Day One executive order on advancing equity and racial justice and a separate executive order to expand Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility across the federal government. The administration set a government-wide goal of increasing the share of federal contracts to small disadvantaged businesses, including those owned by people of color, by 50% by FY25, meaning an increase of $100 billion to these firms over 5 years. The administration provided $32B specifically for Tribal communities and Native people in the American Rescue Plan and $13B in direct investments in Tribal communities through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. “
(From the Buncombe County Democratic Party, January 19 newsletter)
Is everything perfect? No. Do we still have a lot of work we need to do, changes we hope to make? Yes. Is it easy to make these changes in a world that is still being sold “the BIG LIE”? No. Is it possible? Yes. We need to pay attention and we need to keep after our goals.
But let’s stop moaning about how the glass is half empty or that, worse yet, the glass is broken. It’s not. It’s really not. Things are better than they were one year ago.
For that I am grateful. Very, very grateful.
I too was raised in the South and came from a family of “Yellow Dog Democrats” and proud of it. I grow so weary of the misinformation and just plain lies and shocked that people choose to believe it and pass it on in social media. I prefer to hope and pray we will rise above all this.
I thought exactly the same of that newsletter- a good recap of a heck of a lot accomplished. Thought the president did a good job on that 2 hour news conference today, too.