It’s a common practice when the end of a year approaches to take stock and consider what was accomplished over the past year and what might be on the horizon in the one to come. When it comes to this column, I have the feeling that I haven’t accomplished nearly as much as I would have liked to, and I’m not optimistic that 2006 will be much of an improvement.

When I started this column more than six years ago, I hoped that I would be able to use it to make a difference in some small way in how people thought about issues that were important to me. I thought that if my words were clever enough and my logic persuasive enough, I might be able to move people to action on issues where action was sorely needed.

These days I really have my doubts as to whether most people can be bothered to think much about anything. There are some really big, bad things going on in our country that just don’t seem to register with most Americans, and I really can’t understand why that is.

We have a president who knowingly, blatantly and unapologetically broke federal law by eavesdropping on American citizens without the required judicial authorization. If the president thought he should have the power to do that, he should have asked Congress to change the existing law. Instead he decided to just ignore the law, and has said that he’d continue to do so.

Since the story broke we’ve heard voices here and there timidly suggest that maybe, possibly, we should think about impeaching this president. For heaven’s sake! Citizens should be swarming the White House and the Capitol building, demanding that the law be upheld. But no, we’ll see what the new year brings. Perhaps Congress will hold some hearings. That will teach him.

And how about that federal budget deficit? Our children are being set up for a financial meltdown because we elect people who can’t say no to tax cuts and big spending programs. There is no way that I can think about our long-term financial outlook without feeling sick to my stomach, yet voters insist on booting any politician who dares to raise the possibility of increasing taxes or cutting popular spending programs. It’s like we think that government money is manna falling from heaven that will rain down on us forever.

Americans are bored by such mundane topics. They’d rather sink their teeth into real issues, like whether salesclerks say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” If only we can make sure a Christmas tree is always called a Christmas tree, all will be well. What a sense of perspective we have!

And if we can teach intelligent design alongside evolution in science class, I’m sure our children will turn out all right, even though they may one day be living under a virtual dictatorship in a bankrupt country. Lord knows they will need someone to pray to in the America they are likely to inherit from us.

As you can tell, I am badly in need of a healthy dose of motivation if I’m going to keep this column going in 2006 and beyond. Maybe Santa left a little common sense and selflessness under the tree for the American people this year.