Today we say farewell to the year 2021. On balance it hasn’t been a winner. This hasn’t been a stroll in the sunlit uplands, enjoying a light breeze and gorgeous vistas. It has been more like plodding through a dreary landscape you’d just like to get beyond.
I wish I could see nicer times ahead, but honestly I don’t. The midterm election happens in 2022 and both major parties will claim a victory by the other will be disastrous. Oddly, viewed from the perspective of where each party would like the US to be, a victory by the other is disastrous-ish.
In other words, brace yourselves for an even more polarized polity. Regardless of who wins, many will be bitterly unhappy with the outcome. And there is no end yet in sight for Covid. With a bit of luck, you may be able to exercise something not unlike the Benedict option and shield yourself and those you care about from the worst of it.
Postscript: Surviving 2021 is not bad, some 800,000 of our peers didn't, with Covid as the (at least "contributing") cause.
