Well, we've been seeing each year somehow get crazier than the previous year, and 2022 is no exception. As always, there are some very ominous implications, while at the same time some reasons for real hope, including a couple of corrections to wrong turns taken about fifty years ago.
The world situation grew more dark and dangerous this year as Vlad Putin indulged his fantasy of restoring Russia's imperial/Soviet expanse by invading its neighbor Ukraine. The conventional wisdom was that Russia would probably overrun Ukraine within a few days or weeks, but fierce Ukrainian resistance backed by material support from western nations has resulted in a standoff with Russian forces being pushed back closer to their border. Putin's ruthless obsession with this pursuit has raised concerns about potential nuclear confrontation to the highest it has been since the Cold War. Meanwhile, other aggressive tyrannical nations (China, Iran, etc.) have their own ambitions, and their actions may depend to some degree on the outcome of the continuing Ukrainian conflict and the world's response to it.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has served to intensify economic problems already generated by faulty policies implemented by the current administrations in the US and other countries. Particularly energy, where there is a push to reduce fossil fuel usage drastically in order to meet "net zero" carbon emission requirements. This flawed policy presumes that man-made climate change is such an imminent catastrophe, and that renewable sources (solar, wind, etc.) will suffice to provide energy needs. This assumes that the supposed catastrophe justifies the risk of great human suffering due to energy and food shortages. There is no evidence strong enough to support this. A reasonable strategy to reduce carbon emissions would rely on using cleaner fossil fuels (e.g. natural gas), nuclear, along with renewables. Longer term prospects could include nuclear fusion and collection of solar energy where it is most abundant and dependable, space.
A historic legal and cultural breakthrough occurred this year with the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which imposed a fictitious "right " to abortion-on-demand on the whole US society. This is an objective that the prolife movement has been tenaciously working toward for fifty years. The fierce and divided reaction to the new ruling confirms that the struggle to protect vulnerable preborn human lives is far from over. The prolife movement takes its cue from the antislavery movement that struggled for generations, even centuries, to achieve its goals.
Politics and media continue to divide society. Questions of election integrity, social relations (along racial, sexual, and other categories), and media bias and manipulation are prime flash points. Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter has caused a major disruption to the conventional wisdom by revealing (via 3rd party journalists) not only media bias, but active government involvement in suppressing certain news items and opinions, crossing a clear 1st Amendment boundary. Time and space do not allow going deep into all of the issues dividing our society.
And with all of the political and social upheaval going on, amazing progress continues to be made in medicine technology and other fronts. Major breakthroughs in space exploration highlight this year. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) deployment and early observations have already begun extend our understanding of the universe, while raising new questions to ponder and investigate. Meanwhile, the Artemis I uncrewed test flight demonstrated some of the hardware NASA intends to use to return humans to the Moon after the long 50 year hiatus since the original Apollo Moon missions. Whether this return to the Moon can be sustained and expanded on a permanent basis will depend on ongoing developments in commercial launch and in-space technologies and operations, some of which are poised for breakthrough in 2023, and can accelerate human expansion into space.
Well, personal lives and human history are seldom phased conveniently by the calendar, so there's no guarantee that 2023 won't match or exceed the craziness of the last couple of years. Nevertheless, may we continue to make headway in protecting life and defending liberty while respecting the dignity of every person despite our differences. And may God's blessings and peace be upon you and yours and wishing all the best in this new year of 2023 and the amazing decades to come.
