Making any resolutions for the New Year? It’s an old custom.
Apparently the ancient Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year, while the Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named, who had two faces, one looking forward and one looking back.
I’ve never been one for making resolutions, but this year I’ve been thinking about resolution wishes I have for our country, resolutions I wish we as individuals, groups, and the nation as a whole would make and keep in 2015. As the New Year approaches, here are some of them.
First Resolution Wish: That politicians would stop using the phrase, “The American people want…”
For one thing, they don’t know what we want. Secondly, they don’t care. If they did they would, for example, have voted for common sense gun control laws after Newtown when 80 plus percent of the public was in favor of them. Smart politicians should know the cat’s out of the bag. We know they care what we think about as much as we care about their political careers. So let’s hope they will stop using us as a justification for doing what they want to do whether we like it or not.
Second Resolution Wish: That ministers would stop saying, “The Bible says…” or “God’s will is…”
The truth is, no one knows what the Bible says or what the will of God is. The only thing any of us can do is to say what we believe the Bible says or God’s will is. We may be right or we may be wrong, but that is the best we can do. Any claim beyond that becomes hubris.
Third Resolution Wish: That people who write letters to the newspaper would heed the ancient adage, “It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it.”
While everyone is entitled to their opinion, letters to the editor these days prove what I used to tell my students, that there are a lot of stupid opinions around. Better to remain silent.
Fourth Resolution Wish: That Fix (Fox) News would report the news instead of making it up.
Honestly, you have to wonder how these people look at themselves in the mirror. Over and again their reporting has been shown to be doctored, skewed, and made up out of whole cloth. They give real journalism a bad name. It would be refreshing if they decided to have more integrity.
Fifth Resolution Wish: That Rachel Maddow would stop beating dead horses.
I have the greatest respect for MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. She’s as smart as they come, tries to be accurate and digs deep into stories, but every night she repeats the lead-in to a story so many times you almost forget what she is talking about. She takes ten minutes to say what can be said in two. It is good to put a story in context, but it doesn’t need to be a dissertation.
Sixth Resolution Wish: That we Americans would be able to know when someone is saying nothing even if they are saying it well.
Years ago I used to carry a card to faculty meetings that read: “I’m somewhat of a bullsh#&ter myself, but I always enjoy seeing a master at work. Please carry on.” More than a few people, especially religious and political leaders, could use that card. Taking it to heart would significantly raise the level of debate in this country.
Seventh Resolution Wish: That all Americans would see that the common good is more important than the bottom line.
Money, growth, power, prestige, these are bottom lines our competitive, capitalistic culture creates and encourages that often require sacrificing the well being of all for the sake of the well being of a few. No great nation can long survive as a great nation when this happens. It is already happening here in the U.S., but my hope is that 2015 will be a year when we as a people see what we are doing to ourselves and have the will to stop it.
So these are some resolution wishes I have for the New year. What are yours?
linnposts.com 
Speaking of politicians phrases, I wish they would stop referring to “hard working Americans”. That phrase bugs me.
I generally don’t make NY’s resolutions, but I do have many wishes similar to yours. My biggest wish is for cessation of war & violence of all kinds and the peace that goes with it. I wish I could see America as a truly peace loving nation. But I can’t. War is simply a way too profitable business. In that vein, another phrase I have come to intensely dislike is “America is a Christian nation”. I think that is so far from the truth as to be laughable.
Those go on the list, Wally. Thanks.
Ditto Jan. Ditto Wally……
I’m tired of the term “American (or fill it your state) values”. We all have values but we don’t necessarily have the same ones.
Jan – your second wish is on my mind. If ministers no longer referenced the bible or reflected on God’s will, where would they go for reference and what would the messages be from the pulpit? My thought is that the bible really does say. I think we are at a point that man’s law is re-writing God’s law. As to “God’s will is -“, isn’t this derived from the Lord’s Prayer – “God’s will be done”. The Old Testament tells many stories of God inflicting his will on his people with specific punishment. The New Testament tells us God sent his son for man’s salvation. To me this is, again, God inflicting his will. In both instances man had/has choice and there are consequences regardless of the choice.
Maybe I am making a play on words. When I listen to a sermon I accept it as you say – “the Bible says” and “God’s will is”. Also I hear two lessons on the same subject or passage and get two messages. Hence these are two convictions. Yet both may well be delivered under the pretense of the Bible says or Gods will is. I view this as one ministers belief. Again I have the choice of belief and interpretation.
I am asking questions. Goodness knows my study of the bible pales in comparison to yours. If time permits I would love to hear you expand on these thoughts.
Thanks, Ed, for asking your questions. They give me a chance to clarify why I wrote Resolution Wish #2.
Actually, what you said about hearing two different lessons in two different sermons points to why I did. The fact that you and I can read the same scripture text and understand it differently is why saying “the Bible says” is misleading. You may be able to hear a sermon and automatically know it is the minister’s interpretation of a text, but not everyone can or does. Many people accept what a minister or priest says because he or she is a minister and is supposed to know more than they do. That is dangerous. I want you to give thought to what I say the Bible says or what I believe the will of God is, but in the end what I want most is for you to think for yourself.
My point is really a simple one. Everything we believe is ultimately subjective, so when we talk about what the Bible says or what God’s will is, ministers need to be clear with people that we are expressing our own faith and do not ever speak for God in absolute terms. Keep in mind that the Bible condones slavery, suggests women are to be subservient to men, approves of war, and so many other things we today no longer accept, and the church has done some terrible things in history all in the name of doing the will of God.
So to refrain from saying the things I mention in my Blog is a way for ministers to show some humility and to admit we don’t have the absolute truth about anything.
Hope this helps.
Love your blog. You hit so many things absolutely right on in this post.
All the best to you in 2015 and keep them coming.
Howie and Vicky Goplin
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The Goplins state what those of us who know Jan well realize — that he is a “treasure.” For me, he is the wisest person I have had the pleasure to know. A good man and a good friend.
But enough of that…
I wrote these up a couple week ago after first reading your column Jan, been thinking about them for a while and decided that it was time to post them.
Wish #1 – I would like not to be lied to by the President. (if you like your doctor, you can keep him, if you like your insurance company, you can keep it – even the NY Times gave him 4 Pinocchio’s for that)
Wish #2 – I wish that all the networks would report all the news, not just the news that benefits the President. How long was it after Fox broke the Jonathan Gruber clips that any of them carried those clips and then to what extent did they cover it, not much at all. Gruber clearly outlined in his speeches how the American people were deceived in the laying out of Obamacare.
Wish #3 – I wish that more people would respect the police. Police are not racist; esp. in NYC the majority of the department is not white. They are not racist but they do know those groups that break the law and threaten the police. If you do not want to be bothered by the police, then behave yourself. A very troubling trend is the exponential growth of police killings in the last 3 years.
Wish #4 – I wish that progressives would realize that their programs are paid for by taxes which come from corporations which have to make money in order to pay taxes. Progressives feel that the corporations are the problem and put so many regs on them that it stifles growth. As corporations grow, they hire more people. Cutting the corporate tax rate will do so much more than enhance an executive’s salary which is all I ever hear from my liberal friends. Do they not realize the jobs that are created? We currently have the lowest job participation rate in a very long time.
Wish #5 – I wish that women’s groups and others would wage a war on Muslims and their Laws concerning women as opposed to their war on the conservatives.
Wish #6 – I wish that the President would call the current war what it is – “Islamic Terror” and quit playing with their general words such as a “tragic event” or “workplace violence”. I like analogies – the first step for an alcoholic is to say, “I am an alcoholic”, admitting it, then the fight against it can begin in legitimate ways but the fight cannot begin until it is admitted. The same is true for our lack of a true direction in our fight against Muslim extremists until we begin to call it what it is. By the way, calling it that is NOT being racist – everyone admits that all Muslims are not extremists – BUT I wish that everyday Muslims would protest against their kinds who are extremists.
Wish #7 – I wish that more people would see that our issues as a country are not nearly as much “within” but “without”. The threat of terror etc. is much more of an issue than “police brutality”.
Wish #8 – I wish that the President would not take claim for what he did not do. He boasted just recently about our increased oil production which is true, BUT he failed to mention that it had all come from private and state land and that federal production had decreased 16% since approx. 2012 due to his regulations.
Wish #9 – I wish that the President would stop seeking the advice of Al Sharpton and inviting him into the White House. Sharpton is a total opportunist where race is concerned. He also happens to owe the IRS 4.5 million dollars, that is correct, million with an M.
Wish #10 – I wish that people would quit excusing the lack of performance of one group by blaming it on another and most especially “White Privilege”. Black on black crime is never mentioned, the breakdown of the black family and lack of appropriate male role models is never addressed. It is interesting that Dr. Ben Carson, a physician with many good ideas about the plight of blacks is never mentioned by any in the left wing black movement. He is only attended to by the middle to conservative movement.
Wish #11 – I wish that academic liberals would gain some few ounces of pragmatism. Just recently Harvard Profs. (Average salary @200K) protested that their deductible had gone up to $250 – that is correct, $250 and Harvard still pays close to 90% of their insurance. Do they not realize what the rest of the nation is experiencing with deductibles and premium increases that are many multiples of their own due to Obamacare.
Wish #12 – I wish that people who complain about Fox News would sometimes give a least one or two substantive reasons why they feel the network is misleading the American people. I hear many of my liberal friends complain, but it is never accompanied by a concrete example of wrongdoing.
Wish #13 – I wish that people who criticize the enhanced interrogation techniques of Bush and Cheney as being inhumane would address the issue of the President killing terrorist by the use of drones. Is that not inhumane? It seems to me that letting them live and getting info from them is a lot more humane on many levels, including our own safety, than outright killing them.
Steve. You need to get your own Blog.