Whither 2022?

It was a year that began with an organized, systematic, and violent effort, organized and encouraged by the then-president of the United States, to overthrow constitutional government in this country, an effort that came much closer to succeeding than many people may realize. It was a year that ended with a billionaire, and not those who defended constitutional government from that attack, declared as the Person of the Year. In between those events, there was a systematic effort by the leaders of one political party, and the more degenerate examples of their followers, to weaponize a deadly virus in an effort to continue that assault on constitutional government.

There is a straight line over four decades from the worship of Ronald Reagan and the exaltation of the wealthy, along with the subsequent demonization of their opponents as traitors, to that assault and that elevation of a man and his self-exaltation at the expense of the workers who put him where he is today. As we go into an election year in which constitutional government itself may very well be on the ballot, we should not lose sight of that fact.

Nor, for that matter should we lose sight of the fact that this was not only an assault on constitutional government, but on the very future of our nation itself, as illustrated not only by the continuing the spread of the pandemic, but also the fact that it is pushing our health system itself to the point that so-called socialized medicine was supposed to create.  That is to say, rationing care, and, with the explosion of pediatric cases, continuing the assault on our posterity that gun violence has already initiated.  All of this, despite the fact that posterity is supposed to be one of the things our Constitution was primarily written to protect.

It’s worth noting at this point the death of Senator Harry Reid, a man who moved from the right to the left over his career because he was fundamentally a fighter and he recognized that fighting spirit, and the shared fundamental values behind it, in the left-leaning members of his party. It may very well be that the need to fight, the willingness to fight, and the ability to fight, is what is really needed to unify everyone in this country, regardless of their political affiliation, who still cares about democracy and is willing to do whatever it takes to protect it.

We enter 2022 with the realization that it could very well be a historic year. That could be true in one of two ways. Either it can be a year in which we the people re-commit ourselves to the values that are expressed in our Constitution's Preamble. Or it can be a year in which the Constitution itself is reduced to little more than four decaying pieces of parchment in an airtight glass case, a case that may protect the parchment, but not the government or the ideals that the words on the parchment are supposed to protect.

The choice, as always, is yours. As someone who turned 65 this year, and who is deepening his appreciation, as he looks at his grandchildren, of the need to promote and protect the future, I beg you with my head and heart, and with my body and soul, to not let this opportunity to save the Republic slip away. It is easy to slip into the comfort of dropping out. It is much harder to rise to the obligation of standing up and staying in the fight. But it has never been more essential to do so.

Whatever you do, this year, honor our Constitution, and the memory of Senator Reid, by being a fighter. Do it to save all of us. And, for that matter, do it to save yourself.

And with that, I wish everyone a happy new year, in the hope and prayer that will end up being one.

One last minute coda.  Thanks, Betty White, for being a consummate professional and an unbelievably decent human being, one whose end-of-the-year exit was as graceful as the life she lived.