New Year's Un-resolutions

I’m going to quit announcing who I voted for or who I intend to vote for. In the past, I’ve offered that information freely, whether in private or the public sphere, but no more. It doesn’t help the national dialogue or bring us together. It creates ill will with some of my friends who assume I’m a Democrat. I am, in fact, a registered independent and will stay that way. Henceforth, I will no more tell who I voted for than I will divulge how much money I make. Both issues are between me and the governments of Connecticut, the United States of America and that loathsome institution, the Electoral College.

Also, I will again encourage people to lie to political pollsters. Spineless politicians depend too much on public opinion and not enough on their own guts. As we saw in 2016, the margin of error might as well be 100 percent.

My wife and I are seriously considering dropping cable TV as being a sucker’s game. We are paying for shopping channels that mean nothing to us not to mention the regular ads on every other kind of television. We’ve been streaming Netflix and Amazon Prime and we’re running out of patience with traditional garbage on the tube. Twenty-four-seven news channels fall into two categories now; the liberal newscasts that are all fear and loathing and Fox News Channel’s format of denial, denial, denial followed by lying and then change the subject.

In the information age, we can’t trust crude information. It has to be refined. Who to trust? Too many people only trust information that plays to their prejudices. So many folks have gone to college to learn how to obfuscate. I continue trusting mainstream print journalism over all other forms and I will continue to support it with my hard-earned cash. Why mainstream? The conservatives hate it and so do the liberals, so they must be doing something right. Sometimes the truth hurts, but Jesus got it right. I sets us free. Happy New Year and hang on tight!