2023 is almost over.

Thank God. What an annus horibilis.

As disunited as we are in the good ol’ USA, pretty much everybody agrees that things are not moving in the right direction. And, for the most part, we all blame Joe Biden.

Biden is surely a big part of the problem, but only in that Biden has accelerated trends that have been present for a long time. For every bad trend, Biden pushed the pedal to the metal. Illegal immigration? Government overspending? Foreign policy failures? Radical ideologies in the schools? Censorship? Abuses of power?

They all got much worse.

It seems likely to me that this trend will continue, whatever happens in the economy. The Fed and the Biden administration will undoubtedly try to boost the economy with the equivalent of fiscal and monetary cocaine. Still, the underlying health of the economy and society will continue to decline.

The campaign and election season will be a total s**tshow, and if you had arguments over politics this Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, I fear your holiday season next year will be even more rancorous. It seems likely that either Trump or Biden will win the election, and the people who support the loser of the election will likely go insane.

Or should I say “more insane.” Political discourse in this country is already insane enough as it is. We don’t like each other, trust each other, or want anybody but ourselves near the levers of power. We live in a country where a substantial number of people think raping and murdering women and children is a legitimate means of political expression and those of the people who run our universities and teach in our public schools.

Yikes.

Still, there is some reason for hope. We celebrate the coming of a new year because we believe change and improvement are possible. And they are. America has gone through tougher times than these and survived. It wasn’t pretty, though. Let’s hope we can navigate the political rapids without any lasting injuries.

It’s hard to see what will turn things around, but we know it is possible because it has happened before. That doesn’t make it inevitable, of course, but it does show it is possible.

Which, of course, means that we must retain hope even when things are darkest. This is one of the reasons why we celebrate New Year’s Day, which comes at one of the darkest times of the year. Things are pretty bleak every New Year’s Day, yet we pop the champagne corks and toast to better times ahead.

Humor can be like that. We often laugh in the face of misfortune because the alternative is despair. And in laughing, we build resilience.

Resilience is just what we need right now.

Happy New Year! I don’t know exactly how we are going to win the battle for the spirit of America, but I know we can. Our ancestors did it. We owe it to them and to our descendants to bring back sanity to America.

The Babylon Bee Keeps Me Sane

'You Know, These Fine Citizens May Really Have A Point And I'd Like To Learn More About Their Cause,' Thinks Driver Blocked By Protesters For 3 Hours https://t.co/iBVgYPpIk5 pic.twitter.com/PXB3etk1Dj

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 30, 2023

‘Wow, What A Terrible Year!’ Say People Living At The Absolute Peak Of Human Civilization https://t.co/qHgPfLgmEl pic.twitter.com/YJvdbKeKee

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 30, 2023

God Sends Giant Waves To Wash Away California Sidewalk Poop https://t.co/0Mfor4gqCS pic.twitter.com/TKTq5reCGm

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 30, 2023

George Santos Gets New Job As Fact-Checker At The New York Times https://t.co/YIegpRlXUl pic.twitter.com/wHM5mTQLUC

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 30, 2023

Canada Requires All Men's Rooms To Have Tampons In Case Of Justin Trudeau Visit https://t.co/V0viy3AFci pic.twitter.com/3mtN25jbgX

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 30, 2023

35-Year-Old Man's Christmas Haul Indistinguishable From 9-Year-Old Boy's https://t.co/OCm46DFcWX pic.twitter.com/bEAhOwaNB6

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 30, 2023

After Winter Jog, Man Decides Obesity Not So Bad https://t.co/qAKJDOQhtK pic.twitter.com/D6uKj63IxQ

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 30, 2023

Democrats Disprove Claims They Will Covertly Rig Election By Rigging It In Plain Sight https://t.co/sO7TSqbQyk pic.twitter.com/fSbflVIRU7

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 29, 2023

Fringe Conspiracy Theorist Believes Epstein Just Killed Himself https://t.co/1t5yLx8b0G pic.twitter.com/wYiPMO1cgh

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 29, 2023

'The View' Replaces Republican Host With Elephant Piñata They Can Hit With Sticks All Day https://t.co/gTzZgoKJM9 pic.twitter.com/WUuf7Mr9t5

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 29, 2023

Man Spends 800 Hours and $3000 To Beat Free Mobile Game https://t.co/FIkWNN0tFf pic.twitter.com/4DG8ROwhKt

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 28, 2023

Epstein Client List To Be Posted On Threads Where No One Will Ever See It https://t.co/0GhHSRLhf0 pic.twitter.com/hHBXJQRi6I

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 28, 2023

Cuteness, etc.

Street cats in Istanbul be like pic.twitter.com/TdEX1oUh5c

— Why you should have a cat (@ShouldHaveCat) December 28, 2023

What u doing hoommmaan pic.twitter.com/NuEvhKteSh

— Cats That Heal Your Depression (@Catshealdeprsn) December 27, 2023

Which one is more difficult? pic.twitter.com/3aH48Jyhul

— AlphaFo𝕏 (@Alphafox78) December 26, 2023

The dog that gets happy when his team scores a goal is incredible pic.twitter.com/fgUQRjtX5x

— Enez Özen | Enezator (@Enezator) December 26, 2023

I love people with a sense of humor! 😂😂pic.twitter.com/06J4enu21N

— Figen (@TheFigen_) December 25, 2023

Kitty has a nemesis..🐈🐾😅 pic.twitter.com/h8zgdXAa4t

— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) December 21, 2023

And finally…

The Bee’s Best of 2023 Video Compilation pic.twitter.com/RpRNJFH42P

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 27, 2023