We’re only a few weeks into the year, but so much has already happened that it’s already time to look back as we move forward.

Cheers to all the U.S. representatives and senators who overcame entrenched “resistance” to pass broad-based tax reform. This bill has already resulted in new jobs being created and $1,000 bonuses for hundreds of thousands of middle-class workers. All of us who work will also see more in our take-home pay, starting next month. Note that these positive results were not mandated or coerced by the government. They were freely given, by some of the same “big corporations” regularly lambasted by the Left as “greedy” and “uncaring.”

Jeers to “Sideshow Bob,” our grandstanding state attorney general, for abusing his non-partisan office to mount yet another frivolous lawsuit against our president. Only the most blinded partisans do not recognize this for what it is: a craven political maneuver by someone who is primping and preening for a general election run.

Finally, cheers to the Kirkland Reporter for starting the year off on a high note with a great Guest Commentary by James Whitfield (“Leading with empathy in 2018”). What an uplifting, well-written, and motivational article!

As we prepare to enter the second month of 2018, here’s to empathy and tolerance, for right and left alike, for people of every race and every religion (including Christianity).

Roger Clarke-Johnson,

Kirkland