A new beginning...

"Do you understand that all over this land,

There is a feeling in minds far and near.

Things are becoming clear...With a meaning."

Dawn is a Feeling

Days of Future Past

The Moody Blues

My son-in-law said something interesting yesterday. He was really looking forward to 2017. Why? His job, and his wife's job are both going well. The house is complete and they are about 95% moved in. The boy is about ready to turn two years old and is becoming more fun, precocious, and precious every day. Then he said something else. He is excited about January 20th. For the first time in a long time, he has hope for the country. To him and a multitude of others, it truly is a new beginning.

I am old enough to remember quite clearly the final days of the Nixon Administration. What had stated out a very promising two term Administration, had devolved into a scandal laden mess. There was a strong stench that permeated out of Washington. The day Nixon resigned the Presidency and took his last ride on Air Force One, the country breathed a collective sigh of relief. It was a new beginning for the country.

A few decades later, scandals again crept over Washington. Our transparent government started to act more like a shadow government. Our system of blind justice, became a system of bifurcated justice. Those with money and connections, received one measure of justice, Those who fit the "ordinary" category, received the other. Young people and old people alike were becoming cynical. Cynical that our government even worked anymore.

During the past eight years, we have been sliced and diced, pitted against each other, marginalized, weakened, and stagnated. The lofty plan of making us something of a synthesis between socialism and globalism, fizzled like a wet campfire. Our once strong presence in the world was starting to become no more than a memory. The United Nations stood ready to take control of our guns and out social morays. To me, it was a time which was even darker and bleaker than the final days of the Nixon Administration. 

But now enter the new day. The day of the iconoclast. The deal maker. The man who knows little of how Washington works, nor cares to learn. He does however, know how America is supposed to work. And he does know how to surround himself with high quality achievers. In this new day, we will be governed by people who are impatient with government largess or lethargy. Simply put, instead of being governed by a group of bystanders, we will be governed by people who know how to get stuff done.

A new beginning - and we are ready for it. There is a buzz, a vibe, and excitement in the air. To quote the song Dawn is a Feeling, by the Moody Blues:

Do you understand that all over this land,

There is a feeling in minds far and near.

Things are becoming clear...With a meaning.