As each new year arrives, the nagging liberal nannies urge us to resolve to be more tolerant, patient and understanding of those who are up to no good. Whatever it brings, 2003 will not be a gentle year. We should greet its arrival warily, as one boxer greets the other in the center of the ring before the match begins. This year, the nags offer a cornucopia of New Year’s resolutions we should rejoice in rejecting. Let’s plant our feet, open our eyes to the freshening gale, and prepare to sail against the wind.

On the personal level, I refuse to seek absolution from my sins of the SUV. I drive a Toyota Land Cruiser, thank you very much, and its seven thousand pounds of mass often carry me, my Lab, several shotguns, and a couple of shooting buddies to and from our chosen recreation. Yes, it gets very poor mileage compared to one of those wind-up electro-gas soda cans that the greenies want us to drive. They can have my Land Cruiser when they pry the steering wheel from my cold dead fingers. I’d be glad to power it with a small nuclear reactor, but they probably wouldn’t like that, either.

Here in the Peoples’ Republic of Arlington, Virginia, some years ago we suffered the indignity of having the mother of a son’s friend forbid him to visit us because we have guns in the house. I am sure many would appreciate my resolving to rid the county of my firearms, preferably by destroying rather than moving or selling them. I am not sorry to disappoint them. The guns stay. I will, however, resolve to order less ammunition by mail. Our friendly UPS guy may get a hernia if I don’t. I may also lighten his load by ordering more cigars. To all the cigar smokers fleeing New York City, please give me the opportunity to welcome you to cigar-friendly Virginia. Come to think of it, bring your guns with you.

Patience may be a virtue in a person and sometimes even in a nation. But we need to reject any resolution to be more patient next year. In 2002, we all must have lost patience with Saudi Arabia, the U.N., the European Union, Barbra Streisand, the ACLU, Tom Daschle, the Washington Post, the New York Times, anti-military college professors, Hans Blix, Germany, NOW, Pat Buchanan, People for the American Way, Norm Mineta, PETA, incompetent airport security people, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and anything to which Billy and Hilly have even the slightest connection. (If you’re surprised to not see France in that list, try to remember Charles de Gaulle. I lost patience with France so long ago, I can’t even remember the year). If you can keep a straight face while arguing against that proposition, you’d better register as a Democrat.

We also need to reject any resolution to be more understanding, more tolerant, and more flexible. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a “90’s guy.” Heck, I’m not even an “80’s guy.” For Heaven’s sake, let’s stop trying to be “sensitive” and “relevant.” A lady I dated many years ago accused me of not “getting it.” Fine. I don’t want it. Men honor and protect women and children. We care for those animals we choose to not kill and eat, and even more for most of those we do. We even tolerate our wives’ house cats, which often takes some doing. Hunters and fishermen have done a lot more for the environment than the Greenpeace clowns ever will. If someone wants to wear a fur coat, fine. Just don’t ask me to turn on the air conditioning in the Land Cruiser when it’s twenty degrees inside.

We have a long and proud heritage, and there’s no reason to apologize for it. The world may not be simple, but there is right and wrong out there, and most of us can tell the difference. We don’t need to apologize to those who can’t. We also don’t need to apologize to our allies for the place we have in the world. America is the Big Dog, and as much as they may hate that fact, they’ll just have to deal with it. Those such as Britain — that have invested enough blood and treasure to earn an influence on world affairs — should be taken seriously. Those who haven’t made that investment (did I mention France?) have barely earned our politeness, and are not entitled to our confidence or our deference to their counsel.

All of us — paleocons, neocons, and just plain old conservatives — should make one resolution for next year. Let us resolve to be resolute. We know the strengths of our great nation, and have a pretty good idea of the threats it faces. The most dangerous of them, radical Islam, is on the offensive around the world. Next year will be a trial for us individually and as a nation. There will be war and — unless we are both smart and lucky — terrorism in our cities and towns. If we are unlucky, or not smart, our families and our friends may suffer losses worse than any nightmare envisioned. But if we are resolute, whatever the enemy does he cannot win. We cannot compromise with him, or rest in our prosecution of the war he started. There is no solution to this conflict other than victory.

Tonight let’s all toast the arrival of 2003 by saying, as Churchill once did, “Here’s to a year of toil — a year of struggle and peril, and a long step forward towards victory. May we all come through safe and with honor.” Saddam delendus est.