2025 does not stand out as one of the better years I have experienced. It wasn’t all bad, by any means or measurement. But it was not very good.
Trump came back into business. Our federal government has completely deteriorated. We have a Congress that does nothing but collect their paychecks. A Supreme Court beholden to the President; and a President beholden to the Russians.
You know things are not good when you wake up in the morning, afraid to look at the news: What our President and Supreme Court may have done in the night. And what our Congress failed to do. It takes every bit of my energy to overcome the negativeness that has been created by a duped and irresponsible public to accept such ineptness, lying, and outright evilness. A public that is afraid of anything not “white.” And to top it off, much of it is done in the name of God and Christ.
How you can pull that off is maybe something we should all be paying more attention to. The evil and negativeness pounds you, and pounds you and pounds you. And just when I’m ready to throw in the towel, a beam of light comes down from out of nowhere. I read something that gives me hope or see a positive development at the local and state level in the news. Protests with thousands of participants. While most of us appear to be completely inept at dealing with this dictator, goodness keeps struggling to prevail. I feel angry and frustrated, but I don’t feel hopeless.
It’s the New Year. 2025 is spent. I made my new year resolutions. Some local, some national, none personal. No weight to lose; no reason to worry about my drinking, because I don’t drink very much; my exercise level is good; I don’t gamble much; and I’m just about as nice as I can be under the current circumstances. I recognize that I’m a curmudgeon and not very social. A new year resolution is not going to help that. Ends up I’m not very fond of most people.
I’m dreading 2026. It has not started out very well. We overthrew one country and took it over for its oil reserves. Apparently, the President told the oil bigwigs they were about to have a big surprise for the start of 2026. (Now that doesn’t sound very fishy).
Apparently, according to the President, it’s Greenland’s turn. He states we need Greenland for national security purposes. And to think, all these years we have survived without it. I’m assuming he wants to place missiles there. With him at the helm, you never know when that will come in handy.
And of course, Congress, or the military, or the Supreme Court, will say nothing about this? They all seem ready to support a demented president. No, of course they won’t challenge him. They are too busy dodging their responsibilities. Not to scare anyone, but if these people don’t start doing their jobs.
Well, don’t ask. Darkness does get its way, from time to time, but does not ever prevail. This seems a universal truth, although the waiting can be very painful.
On a lighter note, Galesburg continues to make progress. We are about to get another progressive council person. This will, at least temporarily, give us a majority. The time is right to make some progress. Providing housing for the homeless is slated to be emphasized. That is seriously good. We have plenty of money, so that can’t be used as an excuse.
We need to pay attention to our utility bills and let Ameren know that we are not happy with their latest rise in electrical rates. It is time to stand up for ourselves, not make excuses for greedy corporations. We need, what I think, should be a combination senior-youth center. And, probably most importantly, we need to start building strong neighborhoods. If all else fails at the federal level, we need to have strong neighborhoods to fall back on. This could possibly be our only salvation. We really need, at the city level, a Department of Neighborhood Building.
It seems, at least in Galesburg, that we are going to have some breathing room to move forward. Let’s make the most of it.
Bruce H. Weik was a longtime columnist for The Zephyr and is co-creator of Many Paths Galesburg since 2019
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Many Paths: National vs local politics for 2026 | Opinion
Reporting by Bruce H. Weik, Special to the Galesburg Register-Mail / Galesburg Register-Mail
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