For Lake County, I wish the five commissioners would look to the future and not the past and vote to reject the bringing of the statue of a Confederate general to the county.

The statue would only rub salt in the wounds of so many Lake County residents and serve as a reminder of the county’s racist history.

For our public schools, which have served as the pillar of our educational system from the very beginning to be properly funded by our state legislature.

And the flow of money to private and charter schools at the expense of public schools would slow down.

Many of these schools are viewed as today’s form of segregation.

For our state legislature, I wish they would approve the Equal Rights Amendment and show the nation we are not as backward as so many think. It is unbelievable we have not passed it, in a state where the majority of voters are women.

For our school children nationwide, I wish our governmental bodies at all levels would work to make our schools safer for children by passing sensible gun laws. To eliminate the need for traumatizing active shooter drills held in most schools.

We have tried thoughts and prayers and they have not worked, so lets transfer our thoughts into real solutions.

For our United States Constitution, I wish everyone would become more familiar with it, especially those that take an oath to uphold it. And that passing a test on it would become a requirement for graduation from high school.

I wish all our senior citizens would appreciate how Social Security and Medicare have made their lives better for them and their families.

Show their appreciation by working and voting to make sure every American has health care coverage and from the freedom from worry that comes with it.

For our nation, I wish for a Congress that works together to solve the myriad of  problems that our country faces.

Take out the political posturing and grandstanding and replace it with patriotism and a desire to really serve the people that voted for them and who look to them to solve the issues that affect their daily lives.

For planet earth, I wish we could all agree that there is a problem and the need to take action is incumbent on our leaders. While I understand that everyone in our leadership is not a scientist, they should trust the opinions of those of us who are. They should promise like doctors to ‘do no harm’ not to pile on to the harm that has already been done.

I wish facts and the truth would begin to make a comeback in 2020. And that lying would become unacceptable and debilitating to those that do, in our political discourse.

I wish our nation could become more accepting of the worth and dignity of every human being regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation or station in life.

Americans are the victims of corruption and greed everyday.

Right inside our homes. We receive unsolicited phone calls that are trying to get personal information or alerting us to various fake urgent conditions such as our car warranty running out or Microsoft canceling our account. I wish that the Congress will start to address more problems like this that effect our lives everyday.

I hope for science to make a comeback. In our schools and in our society. It is our salvation.

Science provides us with cures to disease and all manner of medical advances. It is the basis for advances in technology that we all enjoy today. It is because of the earth sciences that we know the fragile condition of the earth. It is the north star of our existence and we need to give it all of the funding that it can consume.

To the younger generations, I apologize for my generation for the huge burden we have left you with the massive national debt. I wish you would become more involved with your future by becoming involved in the political process, first by registering to vote and then voting.

Marvin Jacobson