I don’t know about you, but I’ve wasted a lot of time with wishful thinking, particularly over the last year. A few examples: Gee, I wish we had term limits. Man, I wish there was some way to actually have a dialogue with my elected representatives. Dang, I wish the people who swear to protect and defend the Constitution actually did it. 
But everything I was wishing for required the cooperation of people who demonstrated every day that they had no incentive or inclination to pay any attention to me or the other 60-plus percent of Americans who were not happy with what they were doing.
I was reminded of something I used to hear from some adults when I was a kid.
“Wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills up first.”
So, I’ve quit wishing and started resolving. I’m taking the pledge. Maybe I should say pledges. There are several:
I pledge never again to vote for an incumbent.
They just can’t seem to grasp the concept that they are not empowered to tell us what to do rather than doing what we tell them we want. And the longer they’re incumbents, the worse it gets. They seem to have the idea that their job is to make life “better” for us all. But better means something completely different to me than it does to them. I know there may be some incumbents who are doing the job, and I’m sorry if I seem critical of them, but I think it’s time for a wholesale house cleaning. It doesn’t take term-limits legislation, it just takes a term-limit vote every November.
I pledge not to let anything else in my home that has “made in China” on it.
I have nothing against the Chinese, but our balance of trade with them has gotten completely out of control. I’m also a little leery of the poison stuff they send our way every once in a while, and I don’t like the idea of their having enough of our bonds to cripple our economy, any time they chose to. I’ve realized I can’t rely on congress to protect me, so I’ll do it myself. If you’re tired of what’s going on with China, you don’t need to talk to your senator or congressman about some new legislation. Just take the pledge.   
I pledge that when I fill out my census form I will list my race as “American.”
The whole notion of race is nothing more than a means of creating divisiveness that can be used for political ends. I’m not playing that game. I’m not letting some bureaucrat tell me what my race is and using that information against me. Besides, aren’t we supposed to be post-racial now? It doesn’t take congressional action to fix this problem, it just takes checking the “other” box on the form and writing in “American.”
During 2009, the legislation that came out of congress has made it clearer than ever that government is terrible at “fixing” things. Wishing that our elected representatives would listen and do the right thing has, as usual, been a waste of time. It’s time for the do-it-yourselfers in America to start doing their thing. It’s the surest way to give us a fighting chance for a happy new year. -RB