
Loving America to Death 2021

This year, 2021, began with an insurrection, moved on to Congressional obstruction and The Big Lie that Trump could not let go of, that he had actually won the election. A commission was formed to investigate the January 6 insurrection. Americans fought about vaccines, masks, mandates, school rules as COVID morphed in the Omicron variant and hospitals filled again. There was a messy withdrawal from Afghanistan, the end of a long war. Fires, drought, and fresh water supplies worried us. Senators Manchin and Sinema worried us. Congress finally passed an Infrastructure Bill. “The Pandora Papers” exposed some American states as the new Caymen Islands. It was a year when we wanted to be done with the Coronavirus pandemic, but it was not done with us. Vaccines proved to offer waning immunity so people who had taken the vaccines got boosters. Biden’s Build Back Better Bill could not pass even with a majority of Democrats in Congress. The majority was too slim. Texas passed a bill that gave citizens the right to sue anyone involved in an abortion. If they won they would be awarded $10,000. The Supreme Court left the law in place. Were we better off at the end of the year? Well we were back with NATO and we renewed our agreement with the Paris Climate Accord. It seemed like one stop forward at times, and two steps back, but economic recovery is beginning and Americans are back at work. Work life changed so much in the pandemic that many employees decided to switch jobs in the Great Reshuffle and since children were still in and out of school with the virus, working from home was still important to many.