Horowitz: 5 Reasons for New Year’s Optimism
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
For the past four years, I’ve written a New Year’s column listing reasons for optimism(click here to see how I did last year). This year I do the same. I confess that Donald Trump’s victory and the decidedly unpresidential way he is handling the transition period required me to dig a little deeper to find grounds for optimism. But it remains the nature of news and opinion writing that positive developments get short shrift. As 2017 begins, 5 reasons for optimism are outlined below:
1) State and local governments can pick up the slack and keep us on a path to hit domestic climate change reduction targets. A critical mass of states and cities are committed to big reductions in greenhouse gasses and are successfully implementing plans to meet or exceed these commitments. This work on the state and local level, which is being greatly enhanced by what Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) accurately calls a “clean energy revolution,” will keep us on the path to hit the domestic carbon reductions targets we committed to as part of the landmark Paris global climate change agreement, despite the Trump Administration’s likely retrenchment in this area. Continued progress in the United States is essential for ensuring that the rest of the nations stick to their commitments and that we limit the increase of global temperatures sufficiently to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. to humanity and our planet.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST2) Rhode Island is making significant progress on economic development. The recent announcements that Wexford Science & Technology and Virgin Pulse will locate here, resulting in the creation of close to 2,000 jobs, and that Johnson & Johnson will expand its Rhode Island footprint are convincing demonstrations that Governor Raimondo’s sound and proactive economic development strategy is beginning to pay big dividends. Look for more success this year.
3) Republican Senators are standing up to President-elect Trump on Russian Hacking. With very few exceptions Republican elected officials are not backing President-elect Trump on his refusal to accept the unanimous conclusion of our intelligence agencies that the Russian government spearheaded the hacking of the DNC and other players in a dangerous effort to meddle in our elections and that one of their motivations was to defeat Hillary Clinton. Senators McCain and Graham are leading the fight for a bi-partisan select committee to thoroughly investigate this brazen attempt to undermine our democracy and to recommend what cybersecurity measures should be put in place to prevent future occurrences. Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan backed President Obama’s punitive actions against Russia this past week These Republicans are putting country ahead of partisan politics and will likely to continue to reject Trump’s nakedly self-serving attempt to downplay this important issue.
4) The Washington Post is adding more than 60 new journalists, expanding its newsroom by 8%. Countering a trend of dramatic reductions in the number of reporters at our nation’s newspapers, the Washington Post is substantially expanding its staff this year. The election of Donald Trump has triggered subscription increases at other major newspapers including the New York Times as well as an up-tick in support for foundation-funded investigative reporting by organizations like ProPublica. With a President-elect who unfortunately, continues to demonstrate on a daily basis that he has little or no regard for the truth, well-researched investigative pieces that include both context and facts are going to be more important than ever.
5 ) President-elect Trump’s appointments of Generals Mattis and Kelly as Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security respectively. Bringing distinguished military careers and sterling reputations for intellect and sober, realistic thinking, Generals James Mattis and John Kelly stand out as excellent choices—ones that are particularly welcome given President-elect Trump’s inexperience in foreign policy, his penchant for recklessness, and the weaknesses of the remainder of his choices for major national security posts.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
Related Slideshow: Trump’s Win - What Does it Mean for Rhode Island?
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