Four hopes for 2024
Washington Examiner
Video Embed
New Year’s Day is a celebration of the hope and promise of a fresh start. In that spirit, we have identified four things to hope for in the new year. These are items that, while not all probable, are at least all possible. We must be realistic about the chances of achieving each, but setting them out as priorities can help focus our actions and bring us closer to a better reality.
YET ANOTHER REASON TO BAN TIKTOK
1. An end to the wars in Israel and Ukraine – Gaza and eastern Ukraine look bleak now, but both could find peaceful resolutions by the end of 2024. In Gaza, Israel has been making steady progress toward dismantling the Hamas terrorist organization and bringing those responsible for the Oct. 7 atrocities to justice. The cost has been high both in terms of civilian and combatant casualties. And once Hamas has been eliminated, as we hope it will be, it will be necessary for Israel to work creatively with other regional entities to provide some governance so that Gaza can rebuild. This will be difficult, but it is possible.
Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine could also come to an end this year. Those who dreamed of complete Ukrainian military victory, including the retaking of Crimea, were probably always clinging to false hope. As the Biden administration is now admitting, this war will end in a negotiated peace between Ukraine and Russia that includes the redrawing of some borders. The United States should do all it can to ensure that a final agreement is as favorable as possible for Ukraine, but hope of total victory should not be allowed to prolong the suffering indefinitely.
2. New presidential candidates for both parties – Voters are entitled to ask, “What sin did we commit to get stuck with a Biden-Trump rematch that the vast majority of both parties don’t want?” President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are egregiously flawed candidates and should not be allowed close to the levers of power. Both are dishonest and corrupt. Biden may not have changed Obama administration policy in exchange for cash — the jury is out on that — but he indisputably helped his grifter son take money from foreign adversaries in exchange for access to Biden himself. Hunter Biden then distributed the cash through the Biden family, enriching them all. If that isn’t corruption, what is?
While the window has closed for a real challenger to defeat Biden in the Democratic primary, he still could make a sacrifice for party and country, step down, and allow someone new to take his place. That is what party conventions are for. As for the Republicans, not a single vote has yet been cast in a primary or caucus. There still is time for Republican voters to choose a younger, more competent, cleaner, and less odious candidate to represent them this fall than the one who lost the election in 2020 to such a weak candidate as Biden. A Biden-Trump rematch will be a close fight better avoided by Republicans in a year when they could choose a candidate who could win easily. Whichever party embraces a champion from a new generation would secure a huge advantage at the polls.
3. An end to open borders – Biden’s border crisis broke records again this year. Official numbers for 2023 won’t be available till mid-January, but Border Patrol is on track to arrest over 2.75 million people for illegally crossing into the U.S. from Mexico this year, with most then released into our country to go wherever they want. That is more people in a year than the population of 16 states. Democratic mayors, who once thought they could support open borders and signal leftist virtues at no cost, are now begging Biden to stop the flow of migrants into their communities. They can no longer afford to house, clothe, feed, and educate the thousands of migrants coming their way every month.
Biden could end the border crisis he created by reimplementing the “Remain in Mexico” program he canceled. But he has chosen not to do so, mostly because it would mean adopting a policy success of Trump’s. There is a chance the Senate could strike a deal with the White House early this year that would exchange aid to Ukraine for real action on the border, but Biden does not appear to have the stomach to do the hard work with Mexico to make the necessary policy changes. We hope he will acquire new fortitude to do so.
4. An end to electric vehicle mandates – Drivers simply don’t want them. That’s the best reason for ending electric vehicle mandates. Unwanted electric cars are clogging dealerships across the country, and every car company but Tesla has slashed production. Why would anyone want an electric vehicle when they are more expensive and less reliable than gasoline-fueled cars? They are useless for long road trips. Considering all the rare earth minerals needed to produce them and the energy needed to power them, their environmental benefits are questionable at best.
The federal government is subsidizing electric vehicles, which is bad enough, and doing so by stretching the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency to set fleet emissions standards, which is worse. Forcing consumers out of their trusted and proven vehicles and into unproven and unreliable electric ones has been a failure. Congress should repeal the mandates.