Michael Hiltzik: Farewell to 2021, the stupidest year in American history
One year ago, we were looking forward to a safer and sounder 2021.
The Food and Drug Administration had granted emergency authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines against COVID-19.
A new presidential administration was poised to take office in the next month, armed with a commitment to bring together a nation cleaved by four years of divisive policymaking.
It was not to be.
Instead of unity and immunity, this year has brought us stupidity and insanity on an unimaginable scale. In the categories of public health, education policy, fiscal policy and investment options, we appear to have taken leave of our collective senses.
Certainly there are other years or periods in which stupidity or heedlessness brought civilization in general close to eradication.
Consider 1914, when most of Europe dived hellbent to war for no discernible reason. (Read Barbara Tuchman's book "The Guns of August" for the full horrific picture.) The Dark Ages were a period benighted by scientific ignorance.
Some individual countries and national leaders stand out for tempting fate, to their and their citizens' misfortune. Britain in 1938 under Neville Chamberlain. Russia's warmongering with Japan in 1904-1905. Louis Napoleon poking a stick into the
