Few years have begun with the palpable sense of foreboding that accompanies the arrival of 2024.
The carryovers from 2023 — war, intensifying geopolitical conflict, domestic political instability — are enough to depress the most committed optimist, yet there are events on the political calendar that can make things even worse.
That at least was my reflexive take on the year to come. But the more I pondered, the more this assessment, while widely shared, seems formulaic and incomplete. And, dare I say, superficial? There are many good reasons to be worried about 2024, but in many ways, the world looks like that of the day before. We should be prepared for what lies ahead. Not only can we identify and anticipate the “known unknowns,” but we have experience with them. Our collective problem doesn’t seem to be a failure of imagination so much as a lack of will.