Jan.01

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

There Was Good News in 2023, Not Just Bad News

There was plenty of bad news in 2023, although people may disagree on whether Donald Trump racking up 91 counts in four indictments qualifies or not. Nevertheless, The Washington Post has compiled a list of things that most people will see as good. Some of them relate to sports- or entertainment-figures (e.g., Taylor Swift) or health issues (e.g., Guinea worm disease is almost eradicated), but some relate to politics or are politics-adjacent. Here is the list for good things that happened and that are related to politics in a broad sense.

• Egg prices are back to $2 a dozen.
• The gender pay gap hit an all-time low.
• The hole in the ozone layer is shrinking.
• The U.S. government did not shut down.
• The pandemic officially ended on May 5.
• The Supreme Court rejected the "independent state legislature" theory.
• President Biden and Xi Jinping met face to face.
• Climate-conscious eating took off.
• Ukraine is an independent country; Finland joined NATO.
• The United States experienced an economic soft landing.
• A banking crisis was avoided.

Some of them relate to bad things that were predicted but didn't happen (e.g., a government shutdown), but some were positive in their own right, like Biden and Xi meeting and talking about the U.S.-China relationship. That's better than saber rattling. (V)