New Year's Resolutions

As we head for the end of 2008 and start reading the "Year in Review" lists, it's a good time to look back a little bit. Barack Obama, a Democrat who won with a grass roots/net roots strategy and who created a broad coalition and a movement for change, is headed to the White House. In spite of the rocky news this last year and in part because of it, we have to believe that things will get better in 2009. I heard this week that 1 in 10 Americans were on food stamps in September. That's a pretty sobering statistic. The numbers on the uninsured and the underinsured, the number of houses in foreclosure or close to it--all those statistics suggest a lot of suffering in America at the end of 2008.

Looking forward, I see that MoveOn.Org voted universal health care as it's #1 issue for 2009 (build a clean energy future and create jobs and end the Iraq war were also on the list). It seems there is broad agreement about what the issues are. The hard part is how to make something happen. The next six months will be a key time.

In spite of some reservations, I'm hopeful that the PickensPlan will help tip the balance toward action on global warming and our dependence on foreign oil. (My reservation is that dependence on our finite domestic supply of natural gas seems also problematic, but that amounts to quibbling given the basic agreement that action on renewables and conservation is long overdue and now URGENT.) I don't see major health care reform happening in the next 6 months, but some action is possible.

So--resolutions: Not to tune out in this next crucial period, not to waste an opportunity, even if it involves working with T. Boone Pickens. (If Bill Richardson can do it, I can too.) The politicians, especially at the state level, rely on our ignorance and apathy. Let's send a message that they'd better not assume we're tuning out, or we'll be here to throw them out.

What are your resolutions for 2009?