Christmas Wishes
By Jan Larson (12/18/06)
Children the world over fall asleep on Christmas Eve hoping that Santa will grant their Christmas wish. I have Christmas wishes too and although I am sure that most will not come to be, that doesn’t stop me from hoping, that just maybe, some might come true.
I wish that Americans would come to realize that there are grave and mounting threats to their freedom and their way of life and that ignoring, discounting or wishing the threat of Islamic extremism away will not make it go away.
I wish that the members of Congress would come to understand that their service in Washington is temporary (Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy, to name two, notwithstanding) and that they should be doing much more for the future of America than wasting taxpayer money on bridges to nowhere and rainforests in Iowa. How about securing our borders, fixing the tax code and getting the federal government out of everything not specified to be under the purview of federal government in the Constitution?
I wish that I would never have to hear the names Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and those of other Hollywood celebrities too numerous to mention, ever again.
I wish that Americans would understand that government does some things well (I can’t think of any just now), but most things poorly.
I wish that Americans would understand that they could solve (or avoid) most of their problems by themselves without relying on anyone else and certainly not by relying on government.
It is my hope that the new United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, is not as dishonest and corrupt as Kofi Annan.
I wish that there would be a one-year moratorium on the four most overused words in the English language:
· Like: Wally went, like, “Golly gee, Beaver” and then Beaver was like, “What do you mean, Wally?” and then Wally was like, “Dad’s going to clobber you, Beav.”
· Amazing: “Watching that paint dry was amazing.” “That was an amazing exhibition of penmanship.”
· Cool: “It was so cool when he tied his shoe.”
· Awesome: “That rice pudding was awesome!”
I wish that the majority of Americans would come to understand some basic economic principles: Cutting taxes for “the rich” helps the economy and, in turn, that helps everyone. Raising the minimum wage will hurt those that it is supposed to help.
I wish that we would hear more facts about global warming and less propaganda and rhetoric.
I wish we would quit talking about a person’s race or ethnicity any more than we talk about a person’s shoe color or favorite ice cream.
I wish that anyone, anywhere that is offended by anything would simply go home and cry into his or her pillow instead of calling the ACLU and taking it to court.
I wish that Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Al Gore would not appear on camera or behind a microphone for one year. Note that I didn’t include Howard Dean in this list because he is far too entertaining.
I wish that parents could choose where to go to send their children to school without the government taking tax money from them (and everyone else) and then telling them where to go (literally).
I wish people would call a spade a spade.
I wish people would not feel the need to talk on a cell phone and drive. No one is so important that the conversation can’t wait until the car is parked.
I wish those that profess their tolerance would be, in fact, tolerant of viewpoints that differ from their own.
I wish people in the news media would report the facts and keep their opinions to themselves.
I wish that Burt Prelutsky [1] wrote more columns.
[1] http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BurtPrelutsky
Copyright ©2006 Jan A. Larson All rights reserved.
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