LESSONS

Welcome to 2020! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season. As we all wind down from the whirlwind that the last thirty-or-so days have been, I wanted to take a few moments to look ahead into the new year.

While many people find the tradition to be somehow comforting, I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I’ve never seen the point in picking a certain time of year to begin a regime or change of habit. If you are serious, why not simply start immediately? Everyone is different, and if the new year makes it easier for you, by all means, you should start now.

That doesn’t mean I don’t start new things at the beginning of the year. I have begun to take the time to learn my preferred writing program better. I use Scrivener to write my novels. For a lot of people, it is an intimidating program, but I have discovered that I am using a fraction of its power and want to be able to do much more with it.

As I look into the actions already taking place in this new year, and the ones I believe are on the horizon, I think that 2020 is going to be a year of turmoil. That probably isn’t what you wanted to hear. I believe that there could be a showdown in Virginia that will spark civil unrest in this country, unlike anything we have seen in over 100 years. Any time there is open conflict between a tiny minority of government officials and a majority of civilians, it is going to descend into chaos quickly.

Threats by Virginia government officials of forced confiscation or use of the National Guard is more dangerous than over 90% of the counties in that state declaring themselves to be 2^nd Amendment Sanctuaries. Something that Virginia lawmakers should remember, when George Wallace attempted to use his authority to violate certain students’ rights in Alabama in 1963, the President federalized the National Guard and turned the entire thing around. I hardly think that the governor of Virginia and the representatives of that fine state want to be taken into custody by the National Guard.

Can we expect to see an impeachment trial in the Senate? I don’t know how much longer Ms. Pelosi can hang onto the articles of impeachment before the President goes to the Supreme Court about it. She’s violating the 6^th Amendment, the right to a speedy trial, already.

Will the violence with Iran escalate into full-fledged war? For the world’s sake, let’s hope not. I have very little doubt that if Iran pushes the US too far we will, for the third time in history, use at least one nuclear weapon on them. I don’t really care about world opinion, but it’s terrible for the environment.

China is going to continue to play trade and money games. People seem to forget that even though the Chinese government allows some amount of capitalism, it is a communist country. Their government will continue to build up and bolster ‘private’ Chinese companies making it nearly impossible for US companies to compete. There are some simple ways to stop this, but the Chinese people would suffer greatly.

The southern border of the US is another flashpoint we need to be ready for. The more we restrict illegal immigration into the US, the harder it becomes for the cartels to get their product across the border as well. The cartels are armed with fairly advanced weaponry and retain a class of criminal that have no compunctions about murdering civilians to get what they want. Unfortunately, the cartel leaders don’t understand that the more they kill or hurt civilians, the greater the rage against them becomes. They believe that it will cause fear and force the US to back off when the exact opposite is true. If things become too bad, Mexico may see black operations occurring on their soil no matter how much they protest.

I think we can expect to see more withering away of countries we consider allies. Their economies have grown because they haven’t contributed properly to their own defense, they’ve relied on the US to do it for them. Under President Trump that is changing, and they don’t like it. Some countries have already been invaded from within, Germany, France, and even England face daily struggles with the people they have allowed to come into their countries unchecked.

We are living in the age of terrorism. It is not something that we have to accept. We, all of us, can fight it and win if we are willing to stop hiding from it. We need to start mending the fabric of our society.

People who decry our actions against known aggressors to this country need to be allowed to speak and then they need to be shouted down ten thousand to one. People who revile our first responders should lose the privilege of having them at all, let’s see them depend on criminals to help them when they are being attacked or robbed. People who are verbally or physically attacked due to their political beliefs (left or right) should have the right to defend themselves, physically if needed, no matter if it is in a restaurant or a stand on campus.

Let me be a little clearer. If I were to wear a MAGA hat and be asked to leave a restaurant because of it, I’d sue them for discrimination; I wouldn’t tell them, I’d just do it. If there was a derogatory comment on my receipt or cup or whatever, I’d sue the establishment for discrimination the same as above.  If I were verbally abused by another patron, I’d call the police and let them know I was being assaulted and then give back as good as I got, probably much louder. Until and unless we all start standing up to this bullying, which is exactly what it is, our society will not become civil again.

I pray that the direr of these ‘predictions’ do not come to pass. I also pray that you will all have the courage to stand up for what is morally right and Constitutionally correct in the coming year.

KM