Will the New Year bring cheer or fear?

Traditionally I end the year with a column about predictions, prognostications or promises. As each year unfolds it has become clear that no one can predict the future of America, despite what the politicos will tell you. Some say our days of greatness lie ahead, another group wants to focus on the sins of the past.

Last year, I vowed to find positive things to write about. I failed miserably on that score most weeks. It prompted a brief review of past year’s writings. In 2015 I mused about the battle of the multi-millionaires, Trump versus Clinton. Both seemed out of touch with the realities facing the average American.

In January 2018 it was the “real feel” of the economy. Like the weather, the experts said it was good, but the people felt rising prices and wages weren’t a good sign as California had to borrow from the Federal government to cover our Unemployment Insurance payments.

In 2019 it was the “negativity effect” on our minds. People were down and had lost the ability to hope. The unwelcome news was shutting out even the possibility of a brighter day. In 2021, it was all about Covid lockdowns and what those were doing to the economy, education, and general civility.

Here we are facing 2024 with many of the same issues we have tried to overcome in the last several years. If anything, we are a more divided country than we were during the last election cycle. Just when we conquer one obstacle like Covid, we enter a new election cycle where every sin of the past, on both sides, is meat for the campaign advertising machine.

One can’t help but wonder if the voters seem satisfied with Biden and Trump because it seems safer to go with the devil you know rather than to give a new one power. Are Americans tired of making choices that are meaningful to their future that don’t work out? Can we march into 2024 with any confidence in a better tomorrow?

At this writing there do seem to be some positive signs that reality is around the corner in some aspects of public policy.

In California, despite the political pressure from environmentalists and his ultra-liberal base, Governor Newsome has given permission to construct the Delta Tunnel water system tunnel which is a major step in retaining just a portion of the water we have let flow into San Francisco Bay forever. Yes, the project will disturb some fish and wildlife, but humans and crops are worth it.

In another bow to reality, the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant had its license extended and continues to provide much needed power to a state dedicated to declaring more brownouts annually through our push to total electrification. One must presume that the Governor’s political advisors saw his future in doubt if his state continues to shut down the grid each summer while encouraging folks to buy electric cars and prevents gas appliances from being installed in new homes.

Even if common sense doesn’t win the day, political reality does.

It is now clear to those living in states controlled by liberal Democratic Governors and legislatures, that relocating is the best way to achieve a better economic future. Last month’s DeSantis-Newsome “Debate” was a mistake for our Governor. He responded to cold hard facts about the number of people fleeing his state and the cost of living here with emotional outbursts about how DeSantis was vilifying parents and his support for the LGBTQ+ community.

The reality is that the average Big Mac in California is $5.11 and about $3.99 in most other states. That’s before the new $16 an hour minimum wage and the soon-to-be proposed $22-per-hour fast food minimum wage.

The LGBTQ+ community may preoccupy Newsome because ten percent of his legislature and almost nine percent of his registered California voters identify with those designations, while the best estimate nationwide are close to six percent. That number has skyrocketed in the past decade, with democrats dominating the registration numbers. But is that one segment enough to propel him to the White House?

With the divisions in our country coming into focus as the Presidential race heats up, it seems clear that we face some unprecedented policy decisions as a government. Will our internal issues and distractions occupy the decision makers like they did in the 1930’s?

America needed an economic comeback to shake itself from the Depression. The politicians were so focused on our economy that they let the rise of fascism and Nazism in Europe proceed unchallenged. Then President Franklin Roosevelt finally had to do an end-run around Congress and create the Lend-Lease Program to help arm England. Most Federal legislators and the voters were dead set against getting involved in another war “over there.”

Today we have abortion, the crisis at the border, the economy and parental rights as key issues. Neither party seems willing to fully embrace the elephant in the room. Do any of these other issues matter if we become embroiled in another conflict “over there.”

Today’s version of “over there” are Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It seems like beating a dead horse, but the American voter is too preoccupied with today and not what tomorrow will bring. We have not one leading candidate with a record of foreign policy successes or even bold decisive plans. Vague pronouncements and cautionary speeches were used in 1939 too. They didn’t dissuade Adolph Hitler and they will not change the direction Vladmir Putin, or the Ayatollah wish to take America.

It is time for Americans to do something they failed to do in 1939 and that is pull together with a common purpose to protect and preserve our country. There is a lot of blather about “the end of democracy” if so and so person is elected. Then there is the reality that all choices will be lost if we continue to focus on the wrong threats in 2024.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Will the New Year bring cheer or fear?