Ithaca Bound: Visiting 2017

Whenever we awaken from whatever partying we may do New Year’s Eve, it will be the first day of the new year - 2017. For the first time in memory, it is hard to be enthusiastic about the continued growth of this country in the coming year.

Twenty days into the new year, the presidency of our country will be taken over by a man I totally distrust, a man who, in my opinion, has not shown himself to be worthy of trust. My research into who Donald Trump reveals a man who really wants to be a dictator - and has said as much. The choices he has already made for cabinet and aides are frightening: an avowed racist, a climate change denier, an anti-environmentalist, a fossil fuel advocate, and so on. Trump, who is anti-science, may well eave this country far behind the rest of the world in terms of scientific advancement by the time his time in office is ended. (And don’t forget, Trump threatened to challenge the legality of this past election’s vote if he had lost. Who knows what he may try to do when his time in office is officially over.) I blame the foolishness of having an Electoral College have the final say as to who actually becomes president. (More on that in a later column.)