Thankfully there is only a year until the next elections.

For the last year we've been talking about all these people and polls and saying that something might not be important yet, but it'll be important sometime soon.

We're almost to sometime soon, I think.

And since I'm always in favor of "throw the bums out," I'm encouraged by some of the bums throwing themselves out. It does mean everything will look a little bit different in a year or so.

Four out of the five national positions in New Mexico will be held by someone different than they are now, because everyone is trying to trade up. All three current representatives are running for the open Senate seat. Sheriffs and city council members and business executives are running for the congressional seats. By next summer, this state will become something like a war zone of politics.

My real hope is that actual change occurs because of the reshuffling of the deck. That in a couple of years we aren't arguing about the same things, because something actually gets fixed.

Of course, I'm also hoping that a team other than the New England Patriots wins the Superbowl in a few months.

I'm prepared to be disappointed on all fronts. I make a pretty good martini.

But change is good. We've been scared stiff of our own shadows for too long. Especially since we know it's our own shadow, but we keep insisting it's somebody else's.

Everything's scary right now. Frozen pizzas aren't even safe.

Wall Street is very unconfident. Are we in a recession? Will there be one? Is it going on right now? And how do we profit from whatever it is that might be going on right now? Or do we run for the hills and hide our cash under the rocks?

I heard this morning that Thanksgiving is going to cost more this year than before. Well, I know one thing for sure: no one is giving away free turkeys this year. So, yeah, probably at least ten bucks more than the years when you got a freebie if you spent $25 or more. But, thinking about it, I don't remember getting free turkeys last year either.

Gas doesn't seem to want to stay below three bucks. Boy, I'm glad we went to war to stabilize gas prices. And I'm really glad they were able to be so economic about invading and blowing up and talking about rebuilding another country and government. Who knew less than fifty billion dollars would go so far?

I was picking out rat poison for the Thanksgiving holiday when a woman began expressing her increased problems with the same vermin this year. She'd tried everything and now was moving out of her apartment to get away from them (I'm sure there were other reasons, too). She had to stick to traps (of various kinds) because her landlords didn't want the mice to die in the walls and stink up the joint.

Isn't there anything good happening this year? Will anything get better in the next year? Something about shopping for rat poison that makes one think we're hitting a low, but it doesn't mean we can't get lower.

And yet, life goes on. Are we worried about all of these things because we have to worry about something, or because we really have a problem?

And is it the protracted race for the White House--where the best thing to do is keep restating all the things that are wrong with this country--that is making us all down in the dumps? We've been hearing about how it's all messed up (from everyone) for so long, we're beginning to believe it. Our national spirit is being crushed by our relentless democratic pursuits.

So here's hoping everyone gets a little break later in the week. We can gorge ourselves on our favorite harvest dinner and not talk about all the bad things. Maybe we can watch a little football and do the Snoopy dance.

I'm pretty sure there are things to be thankful for this year.

Matt Worley is thankful for his mostly stress free lifestyle.