Old Ideas in a New Year

This year sucks. To be fair, that applies to all of them. I predict a lousy 2023 based on the few days we’ve endured of it and also the countless decades of miserable drudgery that preceded it. The supplier remains the same, which does not provide much hope for altered product quality.

There’s nothing special about this one. Luckily, years don’t have self-esteem. Some of the particular conditions are specifically unfortunate. But the general vibe remains the same as every one of these at this time. Any surviving hope will be dashed soon. Finding comfort in routine will have to suffice as a victory.

At least lousy times are moving quickly. Life still feels like we’re residing in the voodoo curse moments of 2020. The rut is mental, which is either promising because there’s no physical restriction or woeful because our minds are imprisoning us. Regardless of what date our phones claim it is, it would be nice to not feel stuck in the era of calling America racist while shutting it down to not stop a virus.

Time feels like it’s standing still just when you want it to accelerate. The physics of how clocks work are beyond our puny human comprehension. The seconds are ticking even if we can feel each one. Science indicates the Earth seems to continue with various spinning actions.

Cheer for this to be the exception from a crummy era. The persistently confident are hoping this grouping is not defined by presuming America is the racist Fourth Reich, surrendering rights so governors can make viruses worse, or giving Joe freaking Biden the continued chance to show that he will never be right about anything. Examples lean toward a woeful trend. But optimism despite experience is the one thing that sustains the afflicted.

An indifferent gift of a new year is welcomed by those who need a mental reset. People in an uncaring universe are trying not to think about how relentless the eternal pressure of events is. Every January feels like a fresh start, which is helpful in coping with the endless drudgery from which there is no escape. That’s as cheery as I get.

Celebrities who’ve left us would surely appreciate that their legacy is getting lumped with other famous people who passed away during the same timeframe. Associating things with a year is both easy and lazy. Noticing what happens within the same 12 months happens to be an obvious way to link events, especially if there appears to be a trend of lousiness. The inclination toward woe is a feature of this universe that can in turn be used to glue quite a few individual years together.

People don’t get wiser just because they acquire new page-a-day calendars, which is particularly regrettable news for a president who’s failed to get wiser despite numerous birthdays. Ancient dolt Biden still thinks he can solve inflation by printing money. He just needs to get them running a little faster if cruel Republicans stop opposing efforts to make everyone rich. The Treasury needs more money, which it will print if only some true leader is brave enough to initiate the cycle.

A ghastly accompaniment to the ball drop showed what lamentably remains unaltered. An Islamic terror attack in New York City is only the latest reason to avoid Times Square at all costs. The worst part of bringing back the past in the worst way is the lack of surprise about shocking heinousness. The combination of lenience toward criminals and contempt for police in the world’s erstwhile greatest city enables such appalling assaults. The alleged Empire State needs machete control.

Rotten ideas don’t improve with time’s passage, which you’d think might be unfortunate news for those who inflict them. But collectivist goons downplay individual accomplishments with an ulterior motive. Results are exponentially worse for their victims, although empathy doesn’t seem to dog those who need it most.

A big date update doesn’t fortify the line. The protected White House is rather keen on keeping the border open to anyone who wants in. The only way to dissuade illegal immigration is to make the country so poor and unsafe that nobody wants to hop the border. Truly compassionate liberals would fence off a country they think is a racist sexist capitalist inequality factory.

By contrast, those who know the present fondness for state control is as rotten a notion as it is harmful practically should disregard the chance for change. Don’t resolve to do things differently if you’re awesome. You’re off to a good start if you stop presuming government will fix anything, much less everything. Learning lessons inflicted by ghastly ideas is the one way to make the new slate of months improve. Precedent indicates this year will be dumb like all the others, and early results seem to confirm the tendency.