It’s a tradition for people to make resolutions as the year ends and a new one begins. The New Year taps into a deeply human impulse for renewal. It feels like a clean slate—an invitation to pause, take stock, and commit to doing better. That “fresh start effect” encourages people to reevaluate their habits, health, finances, relationships, and work, and to plan a better way forward intentionally. It’s less about ritual for its own sake and more about our uniquely human ability to imagine improvement and decide to pursue it.
It’s reasonable to assume that this same impulse drives lawmakers and policymakers in Washington and in state capitals. From the perspective of the policy areas I focus on at the Cato Institute, here are the top six New Year’s resolutions I’d like them to adopt, ranked in order of increasing importance:
- Commit to honesty instead of panic in public health communication.
Drop fear-based messaging, moral panics, and dramatic “emergency” rhetoric. Embrace transparency, humil- ity, and a willingness to admit uncertainty, rather than pretending to have all the answers.
- Stop centralizing every health policy question in Washington—or in any single authority.
Resist the urge to enforce one-size-fits-all rules. Promote pluralism, experimentation, and diverse policies. Different communities have unique needs; centralized control generally harms everyone.
- Break the monopoly mindset in medical licensing and accreditation.
At the state level, remove strict licensing restrictions and discard the idea that only one accrediting organization should oversee everything. Support reliable alternatives, prioritize competence over bureaucracy, and encourage innovation in training and credentialing.
- Expand lawful access to medicines approved by trusted foreign regulators.
At the federal level, adopt reciprocity or mutual recognition reforms so Americans aren’t trapped behind the Food and Drug Administration’s barriers when patients in other advanced nations already have access to safe and effective treatments.
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Abandon the punishment-first drug war mentality.
End militarized enforcement theatrics, propaganda narratives, and policies that criminalize personal behavior. Shift toward liberty-respecting, genuinely evidence-based approaches that reduce harm rather than destroy lives.
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Put individual autonomy at the center of health policy.
Affirm that adults own their bodies. Reduce paternalism, expand responsible pathways for access to psychedelics and other emerging therapies, and stop letting bureaucracies substitute their judgment for patients, physicians, and families. Make autonomy—not control—the starting foundation.
Just as individuals reflect on how they can act with more honesty, discipline, and respect in the year ahead, policymakers should do the same. A freer, more compassionate, and more rational approach to health policy isn’t utopian—it simply requires the courage to trust people with ownership of their own lives. Here’s hoping more leaders resolve to move in that direction in 2026.