A recent poll suggests that only one out of three Americans had a "great" 2022, and for good reason.
Nationwide shortages of basic items, inflation, a failing energy policy, shrinking retirement and pension funds along with the devalued stock market, crime and a nonexistent border are just a few of the woes confronting Americans.
The same survey also suggests that 57% of Americans believe 2023 will be much better than last year.
And indeed with the approach of each Jan. 1, we tend to be filled with hope for the future as we wish friends and relations a happy, healthy, prosperous new year.
But that assessment has little to do with fact, according to Grady Means, a former corporate strategy consultant and policy assistant to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller.
He wrote in The Hill that "2023 is already shaping up to be a very, very bad year" for a number of reasons.
Means cites "massive government spending and inflation and constrictive energy policies driving up energy and food prices," along with mounting evidence of "government corruption" and "rising urban crime, a surge in illegal immigration bringing drugs, crime and a disrupted labor market" as challenges on the domestic front.
As for foreign policy he notes the "war in Ukraine threatening nuclear confrontation" and "China’s rising political aggression" which has gone unchecked by this administration.
But President Biden sees no reason for a policy change, no matter how disastrous the conditions are. In fact, he spent nearly 40% of his time in office either in Delaware, at Camp David, or elsewhere on vacation.
The White House and Senate Democrats believe that the GOP’s lackluster performance in the midterm elections amount to public "support for current policy directions" — policy that has also led to medicine shortages such as antibiotics, children’s medications including behavioral medicine, and especially diabetic medications.
Another factor working against America is the massive $1.7 trillion spending bill Congress passed in the closing days of 2022, approved with the "suicidal support" of 18 Senate Republicans and nine in the House.
Even New York’s Democratic-Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voted against it.
Means believes that GOP support for the bill — especially in the Senate — "handicaps the incoming Republican-led House from moving to get the budget, appropriations, and spending under control."
This is exacerbated by the GOP’s tenuous control of the House.
Observers believe Republican are going to have their hands full merely selecting a House Speaker, let alone doing anything of substance.
So how do we fight back?
The opening days of January are a time for making resolutions to ourselves.
This year let’s make a resolution to our country.
Mindful of the fact that the word "resolution" contains the word "solution," it’s time to become exactly that — the solution to the problem.
Congressional Republicans have to take a cue from Democrats and stand together to vote as nearly as possible as a bloc.
The fact that 36% of Senate Republicans approved the inflation-fueling omnibus bill last month was more than merely disappointing — it was counterproductive.
Republican state legislators can do their part by shoring up their state election laws with the goal of making it easy to vote but hard to cheat to make sure 2020 never happens again
Concerned everyday conservatives can contribute in a number of ways.
They can contact their county’s Republican Party about joining the local executive committee. They can also volunteer to be partisan poll watchers at election time to make sure everything is done according to Hoyle.
Like committee membership, the GOP is always looking for poll watchers, and they’ll thoroughly train you on what to look for.
If you want to help and pick up added income in the process, contact your county supervisor of elections and ask to be a poll worker. In that position you may have an inside seat to view anything not quite right.
If you want to go "The Full Monty," consider elective office yourself — school board, city commission, whatever.
The point is, these dangerous times call for all hands on deck — especially during the next two years.
The Greek philosopher Plato once observed that "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."
As proof of that we have only to look to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Lately we often hear people lament that "this is not the country our parents left for us."
It’s not, and we owe it to their memory to return it to what it once was.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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