My New Year’s Resolutions for Some Powerful People

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Self-improvement ideas for some of the powerful people running our country. 

I made a few New Year’s resolutions this week — not for me, but as self-improvement ideas for some of the powerful people running our country. No need for them to thank me — happy to help.

I drafted one for the GOP’s whole ultra-rightist gaggle of lawmakers who keep blocking passage of health coverage for poor people. “Resolved: We will forgo the gold-plated socialized health care we now take from taxpayers, because it’s only right that we be in the same leaky boat as our constituents.”

Then there are America’s 735 narcissistic billionaires who obviously need to find a moral compass. They’re so self-absorbed they keep wasting their money and “genius” on phantasmagoric plutocratic schemes to separate their fortunes from the well-being of the rest of us. Then they wonder why they are not beloved. So, rich ones, let me help. Resolve in 2024 to demonstrate a little less hubris/a little more humanity, less strut/more sharing. Practice in front of a mirror — try seeing beyond you to the Common Good. It’s a beautiful and deeply rewarding place, if you can find it.

And I didn’t overlook you Washington operatives and Big Money donors of the Democratic Party. Please resolve to camp out in grassroots America this year — where everyday little-d democrats want and need your attention and support. Not just in safe blue districts but especially in rural, purple and even in red areas. You’ve abandoned them in recent years, but they still yearn to build a progressive governing majority for America’s future.

Of course, the problem with New Year’s resolutions is keeping them, and my powerful people honorees can’t be counted on. So, we have to keep pushing them to do what’s right.

In 2025, Have Faith in the Power of Democratic Ideals

One of the most perverse political gambits this year has been pushed by foam-at-the-mouth, right-wing extremists. They’ve been trying to convince Americans to close their minds to all efforts promoting our society’s democratic goals of diversity, equity and inclusion. “Don’t Be Woke,” they bark.

Hello, numbskulls! From 1776 forward, being wide awake to oppressors and exploiters is literally what made America … and continues to advance it. Our diversity, our national striving for equity, and our persistent struggle to include all in our historic democratic experiment are three core pillars that sustain the USA. My workaday father expressed this unifying reality to me in these profound words: “Everybody does better, when everybody does better.”

But a group of self-proclaimed “Anti-Woke” crusaders has surged from the fringes of autocratic, xenophobic, racists politics, demanding that schools, corporations, churches and families shut our eyes, ears and minds to our own DEI values.

All this would be a depressing end to this political year, EXCEPT that people across the country are rebelling, openly scoffing at the “Don’t Be Woke” hokum. Even the petty autocrats governing states like Florida and Texas can’t stop local school officials from looping around official “bans” against teaching the obvious virtues of diversity, equity and inclusion. Also, while a few corporations have bowed to the right-wing drumbeat, nearly all have continued their DEI programs this year … or even increased them. Why? Because the programs make sense, their workers and shareholders support DEI values, and not all CEOs are suck-ups to right-wing goofiness.

So let us not head into 2025 with political fear, but with a recommitment to the persuasive power of democratic ideals.

Jim Hightower
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