Opinion

What are people of faith to do when others who claim to have the same faith use that faith against democracy? This is the question I wrestle with more and more as advocates of “Christian nationalism” seem intent on subverting our democracy in the name of God.

With the 2023 legislative session just started, I figured I’d do my traditional “here are some thoughts lawmakers should focus on” piece. Granted, I understand this is a budget year, and lawmakers have lots of priorities to sort out — health care, teacher pay, and property taxes. So, the items below may or may not fall into that category.

“You get the government you deserve.” — Thomas Jefferson

As Congress and many state legislatures get under way for the year, there are lots of new lawmakers out there starting to learn the ropes. It’s an exhilarating, exhausting time, and they’ll have plenty of questions about the challenges. But here’s one thing they might not even have imagined: The hardest part of their new jobs may be the most basic — casting a vote on legislation.

Howdy friends, it’s Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire series, and it’s my honor to invite you to join me in participating in the fourth annual Snuggle Up with a Book Ball.

The traffic crowd in the produce section is typical for an early morning weekday.

There are three types of public debt. Each imposes some risks to the economic fortunes of the nation or a state. Each type differs in important ways. Each can be politically manipulated to make searing, but often mistaken points. Indeed, it requires a rare level of political integrity to speak of them with equal concern.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb took a risk with his seventh State of the State address.

At 4:30 p.m. on Friday Dec. 30 — days after a Christmas holiday and days before New Year’s — the Indiana Department of Child Services dropped its annual report of child abuse and neglect fatalities.

For the year 2023, I made 23 New Year’s resolutions. I’ve already broken every single one. Below is my list. I resolved that…

1. In a restaurant, when the waitress sees my totally cleaned plate and asks how I enjoyed my meal, I will not say: “I didn’t like it one bit.” According to a survey I read, they hear this all the time and they do not think it is funny.
2. I will make the bed in the morning. It’s still in a box from IKEA and we are tired of sleeping on our couch and lounge chair.
3. When people ask, “How’s Barney?” — my famous dog who passed almost 20 years ago — I will stop saying, “Still dead.” No one finds this amusing and they think I am an insensitive jerk.
4. I will stop salting what Mary Ellen makes for dinner before I even taste it. In future years, I will tackle my addiction to pepper, Heinz 57 and teriyaki sauce.
5. I will put a cover on food when I heat it in the microwave, so the meal doesn’t end up as splatter all over the inside. Amendment to resolution: I’ll try to remember not to use aluminum foil.
6. For stocking stuffers next Christmas, I will not buy stupid kitchen gadgets for my wife that she will never use. We have 11 devices engineered to open jar lids. None of them work.
7. When Mary Ellen asks me what I want for dinner, I will not say, “I don’t care.” I still won’t care, but I will stop saying it.
8. When someone says, “You remind me of Dick Wolfsie,” I will not jokingly reply: “I’m sorry to hear that; I found him very annoying on TV.” I will stop this because when I have said it, many people have agreed with me.
9. I will not cut the crust off a sandwich, realize I’m still hungry and then eat the crust.
10. I will not cheat when I play Words with Friends. Last year, with the help of a word-finder website, I placed “oxazepam” (a drug) on just the right squares for a whopping 192 points. Now, no one will play with me, so I call the game: Words All By Myself.
11. I will not open the fridge looking for a snack and stare for two minutes hoping that some miracle will appear, like a corned beef sandwich on rye.
12. I will not whistle in my downstairs office while writing my column. My wife says that if I whistle while I work, I sound like one of the seven dwarfs. Which dwarf am I? See the next resolution.
13. When I watch a movie with Mary Ellen, I will not nod off, because when I wake up, I make her tell me what I missed. “Mary Ellen, why are those people jumping off the ship?” I said. “It’s the Titanic, Sleepy. I hope you had a good nap,” she said.
14. When our ice dispenser kicks out extra cubes that land on the kitchen floor, I will stop shoving them under the fridge with my foot. My wife has no clue I have ever done this, but the puddles are making her suspicious.
15. Finally, I will not publicly admit to my 23 broken resolutions when I could only come up with 15. I should have written this column eight years ago.