Welcome to winter. Not only is it cold up here in wind chill country, but I understand much of the nation is enjoying the opportunity to bask in the same hibernal pleasures we Minnesotans get to savor every winter.

Needless to say, I hate it, with a fiery passion which, though inadequate to warm the house, is nonetheless remorseless. One of the nice things about being retired is that there are sometimes days – like this one – when there is no mortal reason to leave the house at all. Except I had to take the garbage out. But I managed it without damage, in spite of some really icy spots on my driveway (have I mentioned my driveway slopes?).

I figure this is the worst part of winter, unless we get a major snowstorm later and the power goes out. And that thought puts me in a winter mood.

I’ve been trying to think of subjects to write about for the American Spectator Online. I’ve got several ideas. But the problem is, I don’t want to write – and nobody wants to read – an article as winter-bleak as my thoughts around now.

I remember reading a book about Thomas Jefferson when I was a kid. It was above my reading level, but one thing in there stuck with me – Jefferson’s belief about freedom of speech. The faith that if everybody gets their say, the truth will naturally win out because it’s stronger than lies. The answer to bad speech is good speech.

But when I appeal to that principle today, nobody even knows what I’m talking about. The Left has not only renounced that faith, they pretend they never affirmed it at all.

Somebody said, a while back, that the future had turned out not to be Orwell’s, but Huxley’s.

But it appears now that the future came in stages. Huxley first, immediately followed by Orwell.

So all I can think of to say, when I talk about current events, is something along the lines of Jeremiah.

At this point there’s always somebody to say, “Don’t you have faith in Christ? Don’t you believe that God will take care of us?”

Sure, just the way He took care of Jeremiah. Who was carried off against his will into exile, and then murdered by his countrymen.

When we say that God will take care of us, that does not necessarily rule out martyrdom.

Could be a reeducation camp, of course. Which would probably get awful cold here in Minnesota.