Dave Richards for January 1st…………….
--Well, Happy 2019 to all, including all those nice but mis-guided people who predicted the world would end long before now!
Just when you think things couldn’t get any worse, any more scary, any more uncomfortable, and any more precarious…….time passes and proves fools of us all. In this, I suppose there is comfort in knowing we can count on something.
Yes, some things don’t change from year to year. Political conflict among people seems to be one of them. Hundreds of positions are left unfilled in the federal government, which, I suppose isn’t as big an emergency as it would have been if half the federal government wasn’t in shutdown.
This periodic game of “chicken” the executive and the congress play from time to time shows no sign of ending, especially because the House of Representatives is completing the flip from Republican to Democratic control.
Well, they say you should never “dare a man with nothing to lose”. With the clock counting down to Democratic control, it seems to me that Mr. Trump had nothing to lose in flinging the desperate “Hail Mary Pass” of a federal shutdown in order to bring pressure on the congress.
This is another case of ‘when millionaires fight each other, the common people get hurt’. Yes, thus it has ever been……..but I can’t help but wish we could change that. When we were growing up, we promised ourselves we’d change the world. We didn’t change that part. I hope the kids can.
--I’ve written on these pages a number of times about how I see the political world going through cycles, from liberal to conservative and back and forth like a pendulum. I not only write about it, I believe it.
I wrote before the 2016 presidential election that we’d had plenty of time with a liberal-leaning government and I predicted the country would now go in the other direction and elect a conservative administration. I’m not blowing my own horn here, the reason I bring that up is a news story we broadcast yesterday that U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren, the poster child for liberal politics, has made public what so many already knew. That she has officially established a committee to explore if 2020 is the year she will run for President of the U.S..
My first reaction to this news was……..”Gee, that’s only next year…..2020 seemed so far away once.” And with that realization firmly in mind I came to grips with my second reaction. A liberal candidate may well be elected in 2020 as a backlash reaction to the personality of the present occupant of the White House. My third thought was that the ‘political pendulum’ has not had time to swing back away from the liberal zenith and may well be jerked back in the liberal direction unnaturally early.
I’m not sure if that’s good for the country. A natural rhythm of left/right, left/right has always been best in the past. Like breathing out and breathing in. If you were in the midst of breathing in and had only half filled your lungs before being forced to breath out again, it would leave you short of air. I hope you can see the comparison.
So we trudge on into the new year hoping for the best……..
--It is at this time of the year that many of us indulge in a little game of predicting what the new year will bring. When I look ahead, I see a distinct trend of conflict. Yes, I’m sorry to say that I think it will be another year of people refusing to get along, refusing to compromise, and generally being selfish. I hope I’m wrong on that.
But I can also predict positive things for 2019. I predict that we will have 10 more wonderful Free Concerts in the River Island Art Park this summer…..and that will be great. Right now Meg Rego and her crew are in the process of hiring the bands and performers. You can help them by suggesting possible acts. Go to the website. www.neighborworksbrv.org and click on the Levitt-AMP tab. Then type in the name of your favorite band or performer. All suggestions will be considered. Maybe you’ll be seeing the act you suggest perform this summer in the park!
--Before I go, I want to thank you all for your support of The Milk Fund. While all the donations have not yet been counted, I feel it is safe to tell you that the 2018 Milk Fund Appeal, under the leadership of Lisa Carcifero, has surpassed last year’s totals. Exact totals will be published later in the year when we close the books.
I am also delighted to announce that Lisa has agreed to be 2019 Milk Fund Chair……and she’s already started organizing this year’s effort.
In some ways, the new year is looking brighter already!
--I’ll close this week with my favorite new year’s salutation…….”May you and I be wishing each other a Happy New Year one year from today!”
--Thanks for reading. And thanks for remembering The Milk Fund.
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