It's the season when children petition Santa for their fondest wishes, and adults resolve to lead better lives in the coming year. Now it is Purple's turn to go on record.

But first, some observations. We live in the Northern Virginia Piedmont, an area blessed with beautiful landscapes, a noble history, a reasonable economy, relatively low unemployment, and a wonderful quality of life compared to almost any other place on earth. While obviously not everyone is equally fortunate, few of us would really prefer to live elsewhere. Given these advantages, however, we are also citizens of a larger world, and so we owe back to that world some portion of what we have been so fortunate to receive.

We have just had an election, installing a large number of new officials in our governing bodies at state and local levels. Unfortunately, many had their campaigns heavily funded by developer money. Sadly, because of miserably low voter turnout few if any of them can claim they were elected by more than 20% of the eligible voters. This can tilt their thinking towards rewarding their financial backers at the expense of the community as a whole.

Christmas Wishes. Purple prays that all our officials, incumbent and new, realizing that they are servants of all the people, will study what makes our area a great place to live and work, talk to all constituents, supporters or not, and then adopt policies that will save and enhance what we already have as a community. For those officials whose responsibilities are state-wide, Purple hopes they seek policies that will spread economic and lifestyle benefits broadly across the Commonwealth, not just to a preferred few in their own districts.

A second wish is that Virginia politics be free of negativism and personal attacks, and concentrate on the positive aspects of policy proposals. Politics is not a holy war of good versus evil, but a forum for exploration and debate of ideas emanating from all elements of the community. We need a climate of political behavior that encourages good people to seek office, not one that drives them away.

If Santa were to offer him a "wishes hat trick," Purple would also like to see the influence of contributor money removed from politics. The current system is surely undemocratic, in the sense of "one person, one vote," and it resides not too far outside Webster's definition of the word Corrupt: "(a) morally unsound; (b) taking bribes."

New Year's Resolutions

The November elections have moved Loudoun County to and Virginia almost to government by a single Party, and today's Parties are more tightly disciplined than in prior decades. There is thus the danger that decisions will be made by leadership fiat, without considering alternatives or unintended consequences. One responsibility of a free press is to be sure that citizens are informed on all sides of any public issue. Purple resolves to play a vigorous role in seeing that this happens in 2012 and beyond.

With that, here's wishing you a Happy Holiday Season and a Thoughtful and Forward-looking New Year.