Richard Bircher lives in Lebanon.

Since Jan. 20, many of us have attained a renewed sense of security and confidence in both our nation’s and our individual futures. Believing this to represent a renaissance of real-world reality thinking is somewhat hyperbolic yet well worth celebrating nonetheless. Sensing that social mayhem is no longer the expected norm brings relief as a reasoned world may yet return.

Universal emigration in one direction has been halted. Border Patrol officers are now required to perform their designated jobs, which is to enforce illegal entry laws, rather than stand aside in the presence of vast numbers of people who desire entrance to our generous welfare state. The “don’t do your job ” dictate set in place by the Biden administration allowed nearly 3 million inadmissible encounters his final year alone. Under Trump, illegal encroachment has decreased by 95%. Compassion and foolhardiness don’t have to go hand in hand.

An extensive, in-depth examination and reassessment of inner government workings and agencies, in particular, is greeted with great enthusiasm by many of us who don’t believe government is in itself supreme and, therefore, to be protected from scrutiny. Naive promoters of fraud, waste and privilege would like us to assume that everything government has come to be is somehow based on a common goodness. This may hold an original claim to believability, yet anything can descend into a perverse, self-serving mission, controlled by anonymous, unaccountable bureaucrats — USAID being an excellent example.

Leading the investigation is an outside contractor, Elon Musk, the all-world entrepreneur and intellect who has been much maligned by those who believe government infrastructure and employment should simply continue expanding, hidden from public view and sheltered from the real-world, corporate realities faced by those outside of government.

Their response to his presence is predictably dismissive; he is unacceptable because of his wealth and thereby deemed corrupt, perceived to be manipulating his insider presence to advance his personal empire. Government agency oversight and accountability are certainly legitimate concerns, and Musk’s revelations, especially as a government outsider, make him all the more valuable. Naturally, those persons with vested interests in maintaining the status quo are fighting this review.

Feelings and fantasies are no longer to be treated as legitimate factors in formulating government policies. The Biden administration’s attempt to degenderize society, schools and sports, in particular, proved immensely unpopular. To promote one group, his administration discriminated against others. And now, the “others” are much better able to fight back, bolstered by an array of Trump executive orders and policies.

A total transformation is taking place, governmentally. A gilded cosmos of rarefied sensitivities held together with the magical glue of suspect enlightenment is now past, replaced now with the “wheeling-dealing” world of a totally unabashed hardcore reality and a realist.