Calling Santa: My 2016 Christmas Wish List

Christmas wishes.

OH, I have them.

And while some may scoff at the notion of a woman of my years still believing in Christmas miracles, I say, let them scoff! Nothing truly good was ever lost through hope.

I do have it on very good authority that jolly Saint Nick is an avid reader of RedState, although I think he prefers Caleb Howe’s work to mine.

That won’t stop me from putting this list out there with a word: Hey, Santa… if you’re reading, 2016 was a rough year. Maybe I’ll leave some cookies out for you tonight. The good stuff, though – REAL Oreos, and not those cheap, knockoff store brands. I do that, and if you feel so inclined, here are just a few small items that would really make 2017 kick off in a better direction for me.

Voter ID laws for North Carolina. This year saw corruption rule the day in the Tar Heel state, and no amount of second-guessing and equivocations will ever make me believe that when an activist court tossed out the state’s commonsense voter ID law, just weeks before the election, that it wasn’t for the purpose of clearing the way for fraud.
An elevated position for Governor Pat McCrory. This is kind of a companion piece for that first item. McCrory was a solid governor, who left a lot of statewide improvement in his wake, and did so in only a single term. He was also, by every account, just a good guy. If anybody deserves to see beauty from ashes, it’s this man. He’s earned it, and I’ll be watching his next moves closely.
Every bad piece of legislation signed by Barack Obama overturned. Eight years of identity politics, fear of being labeled the “R” word (and I don’t mean “Republican”), and a cowardly U.S. House has allowed a man without our nation’s best interests at heart to cripple us. Our reputation abroad is shot. We have lost ground in so many areas. Our healthcare system is ruined. Our borders have been disrespected (Yeah, I know who I sound like, and I’ll address that), and everything that our nation was founded on has been eroded. It’s long past time to undo the Obama years.
A border security plan that’s more workable than Trump’s idiotic wall sloganeering. Mexico is not paying for a border wall. We can’t afford to pay for it, ourselves, without massive debt. It also isn’t feasible, when you consider the terrain, private land rights, and everything that would have to be worked out to make that wall a reality. A better solution would be for Trump to take a page from the book of his new Energy Secretary, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, and allow for strategic fencing in high traffic areas, aviation assets to provide constant monitoring from above, ready to radio down to border patrol the moment they see something out of line. Also, move agents to the border, rather than 50 miles out. Get those boots on the ground, in the river, if necessary, but actively taking part in the prevention of illegal immigration, and not just working as clean-up, after the damage is already done.
Clean up the VA. The woeful neglect of our nation’s veterans should be a shame on the head of every taxpayer and every lawmaker. We care more for layabouts and those with no apparent desire to take responsibility for their own well-being than we do those who laid their lives on the line in service and defense of their country. When there are vets dying in VA hospital beds, with maggot-infested wounds, or lying dead in shower rooms long before anyone notices them, something is wrong. When we have a record number of homeless, and many of them are veterans, it should be looked upon as nothing less than criminal.
Someone to take Trump’s phone away. We can’t make him any smarter, but we can ask him to shut up. I have no confidence in this man to not blabber at 3am about important national secrets, or to set off an international incident, simply because he had his ego bruised by the words of a foreign leader. You know it’s going to happen. I know it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of when, who, and how bad it will be.