Say goodbye to one crappy year

I see posts all over social media and even in daily papers about how Americans are down on the economy and government and so many other of the "usual suspects" when it's time to be negative about the state of the world.

But have you gone to a mall lately? I don't know how many dollars people are spending but there are sure a lot of folks out spending (or at least browsing). 

Gas is $2.39/gallon today and I will use some King Soopers points this weekend to fill up at a dollar off THAT amount. 

Americans spent 3-5 percent more this Christmas than last year. 

Yes, lots of desperate people are crossing our southern border in search of something even a little better than what they were suffering through in Venezuela or China or Haiti, etc. During the season where we sing about "no room at the inn," we play the part of Scrooge quite willingly. 

"Hey, we're already here. Forget how we got here," Americans proclaim. "You people are late and are not invited. Sure, we need you to do a bunch of crappy jobs and help grow our economy, but don't bother us with facts or reason. Happy New Year!"

I was thinking of what Joe Biden must be thinking these days as most of America clambors for him to drop his reelection bid. "Thanks for nothing, Joe,'" says most of the public. "Yes, you've done a solid job but we want something new and shiny... like Trump???"

It's tough to love a country so dominated by morons, or at least moronic ideas and misconceptions. But I resolve to try to be a bit more forgiving even of the "I'm voting for Trump because there is an 'R' after his name" crowd. 

I want to act all high and mighty and condemn all those sanctimonious people who seem to have signed off on a president who is more vulgar and bigoted and dictatorial than any of them would ever accept in themselves. At some point, when you shrug off immoral actions and beliefs as "just politics," you are shrugging off your own immorality.

Oh, crap. See, I just lapsed back into lecturing and sermonizing... The good news is that there are two days until any 2024 resolutions will kick in, so consider this one last sigh of exasperation.