I don’t know where this year has gone. I simply can’t believe that Christmas is just five days away and that 2023 is just 12 days away.

But the calendar doesn’t lie. I already have the 2023 calendar up, ready to replace the 2022 one.

The older one gets, the faster Christmas and new years flash by.

When we’re five years old,  Christmases seem to be ever-so-far apart, especially  back in the 50’s, because we didn’t get toys and new clothes regularly.  Christmas was the one time of year (except for birthdays) when we got new things.

Our families were frugal, but not broke. Today’s families are struggling to get by on two salaries; back in the 50’s and 60’s, a single (white man’s) salary could keep a roof over a family’s head and food on the table.

It’s an entirely different story today. The oligarchs are in control. A few corporations control the supply chains. Most people are forced to shop as frugally as possible just to keep their heads above water. Jobs are outsourced, clothes and other necessities are cheaply made in China so they have to be replaced often.

I’m glad I’m old.  I think it’s going to get worse before it gets much better, if it ever does get better.  The powers-that-be are too shortsighted to treat our global challenges as the houses on fire that they are, because they are rich and comfortable. (I’m not talking about President Biden here. He appears to get it, for the most part. He doesn’t get it to the degree that Bernie Sanders and AOL do, but he’s being positively influenced by them, so he’s at least looking in the right — er, left/progessive — direction and doing what’s possible to turn the ship of state in the direction of a sustainable planet and economy that works for the rest of us and not just the elite class!)

I’m glad I’m old because I’m getting tired of having to remain vigilant. There have been too damned  many yellow and red alerts over the course of the past 40 years. This kind of chronic alertness and pushback isn’t normal or sustainable.  We shouldn’t have to be constantly eagle-eyeing our government and businesses so we can respond when they do things that are bad for us or for the planet. We put them in power so they would address and solve the challenges, not turn them into political footballs with which to discredit the other side.

So, this Christmas what I’m wishing for is an awakening by all of the people so we stand shoulder to shoulder against autocracy and oligarchy and demand that our representatives represent US instead of the people who are lining their pockets with campaign cash, lobbying for unsustainable ends, and other forms of dangerous activities.  We need to hold them accountable and to vote them out in droves when we see them working against us instead of for us.

We need to tax the rich as high as Eisenhower did (90%) so they don’t have the disposable income to buy elections  and favors. If they were honorable, I’d settle for 50% but they are not honorable, and 50% leaves them too much money to influence our so-called representatives.  They need to be limited to the amount they can donate to a single campaign, just as regular citizens are.

All I want for Christmas is accountability — and justice for all — and an orange jumpsuit nd the rest of his life behind bars for the former Insurrectionist in Chief. 

Is that asking too much?