Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, December 22, 2003.

It's easy to know Christmas week even without a calendar -- it's when you're sure your head will explode if you hear "Little Drummer Boy" one more time. I began to feel the same sort of tension after hearing our state's GOP Party leader (Betsy DeVos) say over and over that the delaying an income tax decrease was tantamount to a tax increase. Did you ever get the idea that some people have read Orwell's “1984” but somehow confused who the hero was?