New Year's resolutions in the Americas

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Editor's Note: Dan Restrepo is a lawyer, Democratic strategist and political collaborator of CNN. He was presidential advisor and director for the Western Hemisphere of the National Security Council during the presidency of Barack Obama. The opinions expressed in this article are exclusive to the author.

(CNN Spanish) - With the change of the calendar, there is an opportunity to establish new purposes and re-affirm others.

A ritual that many of us do personally, with innumerable lists full of changes to benefit our well-being. The most common annual purpose listings can be reduced, in general, to five groups of activities:

• Be healthier (lose weight, eat better, exercise, diet)

• Save more and spend less

• Expand horizons (learn something new, read more, travel)

• Reduce negative consumption habits (quit smoking, drink less alcohol)

• Spend more time with family and friends

These can also be applied in the Western Hemisphere, to improve the lives of the more than 1 billion people we share in the Americas.

To see how, let's take them one by one:

Be healthier In depth, this first group focuses on losing weight. And the most important weight we have to lose as a continent is that of corruption. Corruption that feeds authoritarian regimes, but also overloads our democratic systems and the great economic engine, entrepreneurship and private economic activity.

Corruption must be combated with exercise, with the efforts of the free press and independent prosecutors to bring out the abuses in the light of day. Efforts that must increase with international support such as (and must be again) the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), and the Mission to Support Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), in addition to the Creation of an Inter-American Commission Against Corruption, based on the model of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Save more and spend less. At this time, we may have to observe this common purpose in the negative, since the region faces a significant economic slowdown and is not a time for austerity.

But it is a good read to review in preparation for better days, which will come if today's investments are made intelligently and not only to advance populist policies as is being done in too many countries. After all, it is time to spend smarter and more equitably, which brings us to the next purpose for the Americas.

Expand horizons. The economic changes that define the 21st century, in particular the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are accelerating. If the countries of the Americas do not make profound and immediate changes, they will miss the fourth revolution, as almost everyone missed the third.

In short, the countries of the Americas need to learn something new: they have to expand their economic horizons by investing in the ability to innovate and commercialize innovation, which is essential for survival. There is no export of raw material that can replace the latter.

Reduce negative consumption habits. In essence, this purpose is reduced to consuming less than what makes us sick and makes us personally addicted, such as tobacco and alcohol. As a hemisphere we have to do the same. We must take blunt steps to stop consuming what makes us addicted and that is making the planet sick: hydrocarbons, because the existential challenge we face is climate change.

The Americas are full of opportunities to do so, since they have a gigantic potential in renewable energy matters. It is time for the great economies of the Americas - the United States, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico - to get serious about promoting the use of renewable energy - solar, water, wind and thermal - and stop promoting public policies as they have Trump, López Obrador and Bolsonaro, who are going in the opposite direction.

Spend more time in community. One of the deepest paradoxes of the 21st century is that in the most interconnected world in the history of mankind, we live a growing individual isolation. While technology opens doors to virtual communities, it seems to be undermining the ability to create and sustain communities in the real world, with real consequences.

One of them was seen as a contributing factor, among many, to the social unrest that manifested itself in massive and unexpected protests in various countries of the Americas in the last quarter of 2019. It is not only personal well-being that increases with more spending time with family and friends, but it contributes to the social good and the recomposition of social pacts that we need in all the countries of the Americas in 2020.

It is time to act to ensure that 2020 is better than the year that has just closed across the continent.

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