Looking Back: The Good, The Bad And The Progressive

When the media looks back on 2014 it will be portrayed as an awful year, mostly because progressivism took major hits throughout the year. But for everyone else, 2014 wasn’t all that bad. Sure, it had its low points, but even "Breaking Bad" and "The Wire" had a few less than stellar episodes in an otherwise outstanding run. Perfection is for God and the less than two-dozen pitchers who retired the 27 men they faced in order.

So lets look back at just a few events from the year that soon will be “was,” shall we?

First: The Midterm Elections.

The Good

The 2014 midterms could not have gone any better, if you’re even remotely interested in liberty. Republicans swept to victory across the country and in the US Senate. More people now live in places with Republican representation than any time in modern history. And those victories were not squeakers, they were resounding. Having seen what President Barack Obama and his progressive allies have done, and want to do, to this country, voters unambiguously gave them the collective middle finger.

The Bad

There was a lot of infighting on the right between “Tea Party” types and “the establishment.” These labels mean very little in the grand scheme of current event, with Obama in the White House nothing is going to dramatically change. The best we can hope for, and hope I do, is for things to stop getting worse. But too many people on the right seem to think the GOP can now make significant changes to failed laws like Obamacare simply by controlling Congress, and they get angry at the people who point out that Barack Obama is still President. He’s never going to face voters again, and he doesn’t give a damn if he leaves the nation in ruins, as long as those ruins are progressive and difficult to undo. Meanwhile, conservatives and Republicans will fight over tactics and call each other names. Someone needs to develop and articulate an alternate vision for the country, but it will be drowned out by a hundred voices accusing another hundred of “selling-out.”

The Progressive

The day after a resounding rebuke of everything he stands for, President Obama made it clear that he doesn’t care. Nothing has the potential to do more damage to this country than a progressive President with nothing to lose. While he’s been the greatest gift Republicans could ever hope for from an electoral standpoint, he still has his magic pen and phone and has shaken off his limited regard for the constitutional limits placed on his office. If the next President is a Republican, they will have to spend an inordinate amount of time undoing the damage Barack Obama did in his 8 years. And those last 2 are going to be something to behold.

The Economy

The Good

The economy seems to be growing. The 3rd quarter GDP numbers were revised up to an annual growth rate of 5 percent. If that holds, that’s great. Of course, we should have gotten to that point 6 years ago, but we’re here now and we can’t go back.

The Progressive

Jobs still haven’t really materialized. The President, when they’re good, touts jobs numbers but never mentions how many people have given up hope of finding work. Since they no longer count as unemployed, even though they haven’t found a job, the numbers are artificial. The lack of good paying jobs, particularly in manufacturing, coupled with the “30 hours per week counts as full-time” requirement in Obamacare, the situation isn’t going to improve anytime soon. And with jobs being jut about the last thing to recover when an economy regains its footing, the horizon is still quite a ways off in the distance.

The Ugly

The Obama years have seen a doubling of the national debt. We owe the equivalent of everything produced by everyone in a year. Were there an end in sight to the accumulation of debt, a case could be made that it’s manageable. But the unfunded liabilities we are facing when it comes to entitlements dwarf what we currently owe. With little chance of paying off the $18 trillion in debt we have, the $100 trillion hanging over our heads in the coming decades should have all of us apologizing to anyone under the age of 10 we see. Couple that with the Federal Reserve printing money like it’s an Olympic event and they’re going for the gold, and you can expect inflation at some point to make a most unwelcome return. The future will yearn for the Salad days of Jimmy Carter.

The Media

The Good

There are now so many outlets that the truth can no longer be hidden. It takes longer to get out there than it should, and it often times has to compete with the lies told before it “put its pants on,” but it gets out there. The Internet offers so many avenues now that it’s impossible for it to be stopped. And conservatives have gotten quite skilled at forcing the mainstream media to cover stories they’d rather not because they’ve gotten so big online. Hopefully this trend continues to grow.

The Bad

Fox News serves an invaluable purpose, but aside from "Special Report with Bret Baier," there isn’t a whole lot of “news” happing there anymore. All of cable news is a one or two minute package on something happening, then they turn to two people with no greater knowledge than the AP story and the package they just saw to give “reaction” and “debate.” Who cares? Why not give information and talk to actual newsmakers or real journalists? I don’t care what the editor of some leftwing website “thinks” the news means, nor do I care what some conservative radio talk show host has to say about it – I want “news” with my news. You can watch all 3 cable networks for 24 straight hours and learn enough facts to fill one blog post. Thank God for blogs and online news sites or else we’d nothing but the opinions of the guy no one listens to in the afternoon drive slot in Philly or the opinings of they guy with the morning show in Phoenix.

The Progressive

As sad as it is to say, the mainstream media is still the main source of information for a great many Americans. They can name every member of the Kardashian family, but they don’t know who their Member of Congress is. But when they want information, or can’t find the remote, they watch the liberal network newscasts. Their bias and ability to manipulate has rarely been more on display than in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Two of the “biggest” news stories of the year are names you should have never heard. One got shot while attacking a cop and trying to take his gun, the other died because he was unhealthy and was being arrested for an act progressive government made illegal. They happened to be black and the officers involved happened to be white, but if you watched the mainstream media you’d think that was all that mattered, even more than facts of the cases. The MSM misinformed and inspired thousands into the streets, into a rage. That rage, so far, has manifested itself in the assassination of 2 police officers and countless threats against others. It’s enough to make you wonder how they sleep at night, other than on a huge pile of cash.

These are but a few of the events of 2014, and as the year draws to a close, even considering the “progressiveness” that happened, it was a good year. The World Series was a good one, the Super Bowl wasn’t. Movies like X-Men, Captain America, and even The Interview were entertaining, but Breaking Bad ending kind of sucked. No year is perfect, but many have been worse. As we prepare for 2015, be happy that is stands a pretty good shot of being even better. And even if it’s not, at the end of it smile a little knowing Barack Obama has only 1 more year on public office. So get your party started early.

Happy New Year.

http://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2014/12/28/looking-back-the-good-the-bad-and-the-progressive-n1936189/page/full