So, summing up the Year
2015: Wow, was that challenging or what?
Of course it takes a
certain habitual attitude like mine to see it that way; another
adjective, for those paying attention to the news, might be
“demoralizing.” Among them, some mention dropping out/giving up for
2016.
Others found the year
“scary,” with good reason, considering the rise of ISIS exacerbating
ongoing terrorism. As we approached New Year’s Eve, warnings of some
kind of attack on our soil had security forces on heightened alert
even here in the Boston area. I’ll bet this didn’t keep many people
home who had planned to celebrate though.
Let’s end the year with
appreciation for some of those who are fighting to fix things: all
of our security forces from local police to our military forces; and
this year, those in and around government who are focusing on the
opioid abuse problem. I don’t like the word kudos, it reminds me of
that invasive plant that grows in the South, so I’ll be bilingual
for a moment and say “Bravo” to The Eagle-Tribune for its ongoing
series on the subject.
I’ll mention Gov. Charlie
Baker’s leadership on this, and his determination to deal with the
state’s fiscal problems without increasing taxes, though I’m very
angry with him for not keeping his promise to fix the injustice of
the Fells Acre Daycare case by removing Gerald Amirault’s ankle
bracelet -- as Charlie promised early in his campaign for governor.
If you are tired of reading this here, please call the governor.
One thing I find a tad
demoralizing was the moment, sometime in 2015, when I realized I’ve
been wrong my entire life thinking that most people, basically, are
really like me. Noting those who do NOT pay attention to the news:
During this Christmas season people actually bought their kids
hoverboards that, while dangerous enough to just ride, can
spontaneously combust; and after shopping, went to Chipotle for
lunch.
It was a silly fantasy
about my connection with others, anyhow, which began to unravel when
voters chose Obama again in 2012. At the moment, I stand with Rand,
and that makes me part of a very tiny voter minority.
Speaking of libertarians,
did anyone notice that Cardinal Sean O’Malley, during his Christmas
musings, actually attacked many of us who believe in individualism,
and I quote: “Christmas joy is about discovering that life must be
lived in solidarity. The Ayn Rand extreme individualism of our
culture is poison, whose antidote is community and solidarity.
Christmas joy is about discovering and building solidarity with our
families, with our community, with the human beings on the planet,
and with our creator.”
Of course, on Christmas
Day the cardinal also told people gathered at a homeless shelter in
Boston that “Jesus was born in homelessness and in poverty.”
No, actually, Jesus was
born to that era’s equivalence of the middle class. His father
Joseph was a carpenter, a descendent of the House of David; he and
Mary had a perfectly good home in Nazareth until the government made
them travel to Bethlehem on their middle-class donkey to register as
taxpayers. Jesus was born in a stable not because they were
homeless, but because the hotels were overbooked.
I am reminded of when I
got off the train in Venice during a convention, and had to sleep in
a closet in a hotel near the station; I didn’t feel homeless or
poor, though, since my Navy officer husband and I had a nice little
home in Greece at the time, and I had $500 in traveler’s checks in
my jeans.
Does the cardinal really
not know the true story, or is he trying to trick people into
falling on the politically correct side of the “income inequality”
debate?
He certainly doesn’t
understand “Ayn Rand individualism,” which, once you get beyond the
novels and into the actual economic theories, you learn that what
individualism, i.e., personal freedom, creates is an economic system
that works better than any other for the “community,” which should
it spread, for all “human beings on the planet.”
Rand advocates capitalism,
which has never been properly tried without Big Government, Big
Business, and Big Labor butting in, and is now in disrepute. I must,
however, acknowledge that “the marketplace” works only with an
informed consumer, and who among us can wade through all the
complexities of today’s life and news cycles to be one of those?
In a wonderful interview
with Megyn Kelly on Fox News, the liberals’ bogeyman, Charles Koch,
was asked if he is a libertarian, and he responded that he once was,
but now he is a classic liberal. I had always thought they were the
same, but I think I get his point: Libertarians seem to be focusing
too much on the individual freedom, without explaining how that
leads, as Koch said, to a society that is more responsible, that
works for more people.
Bravo to the Koch
brothers, for deciding to come out to the public, to show what
heroes they have been to our economy, to charities, to culture like
PBS programming through their foundations. My choice for Men of the
Year: Charles and David Koch. And no, I do not get any funding from
them in return for my admiration.
Maybe in the New Year,
instead of being a libertarian or classic liberal, I should try
being a modern liberal, aka “progressive” — support bigger
government, increased national debt, more of the welfare state to
distort the tradition of melting-pot immigration, the religion of
global warming, more political correctness. especially on college
campuses, even gun control in the face of embedded terrorists. Then
if the Democrats win the presidency, and perhaps take Congress, I’ll
finally be part of the ruling class. Will that feel good? Will I be
called compassionate? Next year will Cardinal O’Malley say I have
“Christmas joy?”
No, I’m too smart to be a
liberal. Happy New Year! One thing for sure, it will be challenging.
Let’s not drop out, let’s not be afraid.
