Thomas L. Knapp
For many political columnists, it’s a “year in review” time, so here are my thoughts on 2024 and recommendations for 2025.
Opinion: 0 out of 10, not recommended. If you’re reading this preparing to test your time machine in the year 2525 and trying to decide which year in the past to visit, avoid this.
On a societal level, I can’t think of any major positive events, political or cultural, that are worthy of your energy. Armistice Day, Ed Sullivan’s Beatles, or Man on the Moon moment come to mind (maybe the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown will help with that). will be published on the following day).
This year has been equal parts anger, resentment, violence, and boredom.
The U.S. presidential election campaign was strange in some ways, but unless dementia, opportunistic ladder climbing, and the truth-social equivalent of “mean tweets” happen to be your thing, it’s especially interesting. That was not the point.
The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East continued, but were essentially “massive downers” rather than “massive developments.” There are a lot of bodies and not a lot of movement toward peace or closure.
Regarding Ukraine: President Trump is unlikely to abandon Ukraine. The proof is in his actions, not his rhetoric. opinion
And so on. It really wasn’t a very good year.
I’m not complaining on a personal level, mind you. I’m glad my family made it through 2024 without any major medical or financial setbacks, and that I’m starting to feel a little more adventurous as my golden (gray?) years approach (i.e. my nuclear family) (They all died and couldn’t live.) They were worried and scolded me for starting to ride a motorcycle). I hope you’ve had a good year as well, but I suspect it’s probably been better in inverse proportion to the amount of attention you paid to politics and world affairs.
Politicians should leave us alone on vacation
I also wish you and everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous holiday season and new year.
So here’s what I recommend to help you get that result next year.
There must be a law.
If you know me at all, you know that I don’t say things like that often.
But I really think this could be important. In faux legal jargon, my suggestion is:
“No government employee, elected or appointed official, or candidate for election or appointment to any government office shall be permitted to elect any government official, elected or appointed official, or candidate for election or appointment to any government office between midnight of December 18th and midnight of January 1st of the year. shall not make, speak, or issue any public statements related to these positions for the next year. ”
Looking ahead to 2025: Editorial: How will Trump’s policies impact Palm Beach County?
There are no speeches. There was no press conference. There is no press release. You may not post on social media with your “official” account. If you want to say something like “Merry Christmas” to your family in person, over the phone, or on your personal social media accounts, that’s fine. But there is no such thing as “my fellow Americans.” When you’re not annoying or infuriating your fellow Americans, you’re just boring us. So please shut up Yappers and leave us alone for a few weeks.
I think that kind of law would violate the First Amendment…but most of the people affected don’t care about the First Amendment anyway, right?
I hope you have a nice vacation.
Thomas L. Knapp (X: @thomaslknapp | Bluesky: @knappster.bsky.social | Mastodon: @knappster) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy and Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.
