Jon Reisman

I began 2021 channeling “1921” from the Who. I had no reason to be overly prophetic, but it turns out Roger Daltrey accurately foreshadowed the Delta variant, Afghanistan, the open Southern border, January 6, cackling Kamala, the Durham probe, the Rittenhouse and Smollett trials and the media lies and malpractice surrounding all of it:

Got a feeling '21
Is going to be a good year,
Especially if you and me
See it in together.

So you think '21
Is going to be a good year?
It could be good for me and her,
But you and her - no, never!
I had no reason to be over optimistic,
But somehow,
when you smiled
I could brave bad weather...

What about the boy?
What about the boy?
What about the boy?
He saw it all!

You didn't hear it. You didn't see it.
You won't say nothing to no one
Never in your life.
You never heard it.
Oh, how absurd it all seems
Without any proof.
You didn't hear it. You didn't see it.
You never heard it - not a word of it!
You won't say nothing to no one,
Never tell a soul
What you know is the truth…

There is some reason to be hopeful that 2022 will be an improvement, if only because 2021 was so awful, but I have no reason to be overoptimistic, because:

• The Legacy Media (New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, NPR and you can add in the Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald and Maine Public) continue to lie and gas light as the communication arm of the Democratic Party. Despite the revelations of the Durham probe, the Rittenhouse and Smollett verdicts, and the glacially and reluctantly revealed Democrat suppressed January 6 video, the legacy media unapologetically continues their mendacious disinformation campaigns.

• The electoral and center stage return of Paul LePage in Maine, foreshadowing the 2024 return of Donald Trump, promises to ratchet up the cultural and civil war to screeching levels that  might even drown out Kamala’s cackle. LePage vs. Mills will be an exhausting exercise in political trench warfare that hardens differences, convinces few, converts no one and divides the state into ideological and tribal warrens convinced their opponents are evil, misguided cult members. Good luck to the “winner” governing, much less “uniting” the fractured remains.

• The inflation genie is out of the bottle.  The left is happy about it (or at least not unhappy, as long as they can avoid blame), and the right lacks the cojones to pursue the policies necessary to contain it (tighter fiscal and monetary policy, including spending cuts, higher taxes, tighter credit and higher interest rates).

• Biden/Brandon climate alarmism, human infrastructure and Iranian appeasement policies promise to do permanent damage to the American economy and prospects. The likely 2022 midterm red wave correction will be too little, too late to limit or reverse the damage that Biden, Pelosi, Schumer and their fellow travelers have promised to inflict on the irredeemably racist peasants they have the misfortune to share the continent with.
Jon Reisman is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Maine at Machias. His views are his own. Mr. Reisman welcomes comments as letters to the editor here, or to him directly via email at [email protected].