We are officially into the Holiday Season. Now comes the hard part: deciding what I want for Christmas for me, the Country, and the World. I am 72 years old, so I don't need many material things for Christmas. Sure, I still would like something flashy like a new car or a new boat, but the car I have is running just fine, and I am getting too old and out of shape to get in and out of a boat at low tide. I already have the best wife a man could have. My Children are grown and have busy lives of their own, but I still wish I could see them more. I have had the pleasure of seeing all four of my Grandchildren become teenagers. The oldest is now in college, and the youngest is in middle school. I am really thankful for those things.

Instead of concentrating on what I need, let's look at what the world needs. The first thing the world needs is for the industrialized countries to work harder in helping those so-called third-world countries. We have children who are dying from a lack of healthcare and basic living supplies such as food, clean water, and housing. It seems these third-world countries have no trouble getting their hands on guns that are used to terrorize and suppress the masses, but when it comes to food and medicine, which would save lives, we seem to find ways to cut those programs. Could it be that there is profit in selling guns, but because there is no profit in feeding children, the guns win out? We always seem to put profit over life, especially if that life is not white, as in some third-world country. We don’t want to take in refugees from what Trump calls those shithole countries, but then we don’t want to help them improve their own country, so they would not want to migrate somewhere else. It seems the world still sees that “Might Makes Right” when in reality, that “Might” is causing death. We have to stop supporting the bullies and start protecting those whom the bullies prey on. When I was growing up, we had people trying to convince the world that “War Was Not the Answer” and “Make Love, Not War,” but 50 years later, we still have not learned those lessons. I live in the most powerful country in the world, yet we don’t do a damn thing to really lift the poor people around the world, let alone in our own country. In the case of the current administration and its support of the world's biggest bully, Russia, we are getting closer to a worldwide conflict than we have in decades. Placating the bully and not supporting those who are being bullied brings us closer to the chaos of a broader conflict. 

As far as my country goes, my first wish would be that we remember that we are the United States of America and not the Divided States of America. We are not the Red States and Blue States of America. We need to get rid of the things that divide us in the first place. I have written many times that a divided America is a weak America, and right now we are a very weak country. Who gains from a weakened America? Does Russia gain? Does China gain? We have a President who has not put the country's interests and the interests of the free world first. That only helps the enemies of democracy and the free world. We have to stop putting anyone person or anyone political party before the country and before the constitution. I wish for the country to fulfill the promise that no one man is above the law. We have a group of women who have had terrible crimes committed against them that are screaming for justice. They don’t want revenge; they just want justice, and we have a government and a Department of Justice that don’t want to give it to them. How do we give them Justice? By holding those who have committed the crimes against them accountable. This should not be a political issue. We must hold Democrats and Republicans equally accountable. No matter how rich the perpetrators are, they must be held accountable to the same law that the poorest of the poor are.

To accomplish much of my Christmas list, we have to remember just a few things. The first one is Respect. Respect for the law has to start at the top. If our President has no respect for the law and if our Supreme Court doesn’t think our President is accountable to the law, that will have a trickle-down effect. That will diminish the law in the eyes of the entire nation. You can’t end corruption, not if everyone is accountable to the law.  You will never drain the swamp unless everyone is held accountable to the law. Respect is sorely lacking in the Trump Administration and much of the country. We have shown the world we have no respect for International and Maritime Law with our attacks on boats in international waters. We have shown the world that we have no respect for borders by not demanding that Russia immediately leave all occupied land in Ukraine. We have shown the world that we have no respect for Women when we have a President tell a woman journalist, “Quiet Piggy.” Respect is something that is earned, and as a country, we must keep working for that respect. We guaranteed we would help protect the Ukrainians' sovereignty when they agreed to give up their nuclear weapons. As a country, we have not lived up to that agreement. If the world cannot respect our word, then all that does is weaken us on the world stage.

As a nation, we must demand the truth from our government. They talk about transparency all the time, but that is something that too many administrations have not wanted to honor, with the worst, in my opinion, being the Trump Administration. The Epstein files should have been released a long time ago. They were sealed for most of the Biden Administration, which, in my opinion, was not right, but once they were no longer sealed, they should have been made available to the public immediately. Maybe if we truly had a free and independent press, searching for the truth would be much easier, but as long as we have billionaires controlling what we see, hear, and read, that will continue to be a problem.