EACH YEAR brings the opportunity for fresh beginnings. For you that might mean an exercise regimen, a continuing-ed class, or even a new career. The turning of the page from 2008 to 2009 provides a moment to pause, take a deep breath, reassess, and wipe the slate clean. The unfulfilled promises of the old year evaporate at the stroke of midnight as a new clock is set.

In this great nation, our government also gets to make a fresh start. Every four years, a new administration is sworn in; new faces show up for work and establish a new set of priorities. How effective will they be? How will the electorate respond? Here’s the chance to tackle new issues, or old issues in new ways. As the four-year term progresses, the annual changing of the calendar will provide the basis for an honest assessment.

And after facing historically low approval ratings, Congress also gets its shot at making some New Year’s resolutions and keeping them. The American people have sent a message to Congress. They want us to work diligently to solve the problems our nation faces, including the cost of energy and our dependence on foreign oil, the threat of out-ofcontrol spending, raging budget deficits, and a rapidly growing bureaucracy. There are also concerns about national and financial security, retirement security, and job security for our children’s future.

The message to those of us entrusted with the day-to-day decisions of government is to get busy, take action, and find solutions. And we must do it in a civil manner, befitting the legacy of freedom that has given the people of this grand experiment in democracy the opportunity to celebrate the promise of a new year.