By Editorial Board December 17 IS IT more difficult to think of 19 good things that happened in 2019 than it was to think of 18 good things last year, or 17 in 2017, just because 19 is a bigger number than 18 or 17 — or was good news in genuinely shorter supply this year?
3. The U.S. economy continued to grow, now more than a decade after the Great Recession, and unemployment fell to near-record lows. 6. Reports this year showed that Americans gave $428 billion in charity in 2018, 2.1 percent of the country’s total economy and more than the entire national economy of Norway. Figures for 2019 won’t be available until next year, but it’s a fair bet that the generosity continued.
9. The U.S. women’s national soccer team inspired our nation by winning the World Cup — and then using their celebrity to campaign for gender equity on the soccer pitch and beyond. 12. The public got a glimpse of another aspect of their democracy at work when a series of public servants and former public servants courageously defied insults from the world’s most powerful man to give honest witness at the impeachment hearings. History will remember former Russia adviser Fiona Hill, Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and others for stepping forward to do their duty at a difficult time.
15. In November, a similar phenomenon played out in the off-year elections in Virginia, where, come January, women will occupy the two most powerful positions . As our editorial noted, “In its 400-year history, fewer than 100 women have been elected to the General Assembly, as against more than 9,000 men. Forty-one of those women will be among the 140 lawmakers who convene in Richmond in January.”