It’s been a good year for America. It’s been a good year for the people who live in America. A very good year. As a matter of fact, if we could have every year be like this one, we’d take it in a heartbeat.

You wouldn’t know it was a good year if you had your head buried in the sand, didn’t come out into the sunlight and actually go about your normal activities on a daily basis. If your entire reality is determined by simply absorbing coverage of the news from the mainstream broadcast channels and the leftist cable channels like MSNBC and CNN, then you would think that things are not going well at all. If that is your world, then things are dark indeed.

However, any open-minded, rational person can recognize the difference between the real world of tangible, corporeal things and conditions and the wannabe pretend world of abstract, ethereal fantasy.

Things that are real:

The Economy is Great

For the first time in over a decade, we can honestly say the economy is great, by any measure, whether it be unemployment, job creation, consumer optimism, increasing wages, job openings vs. available workers, number of people on food stamps or any other metric. People feel secure and they’re buying things. Because of lower personal and corporate taxes and the elimination of numerous punitive, business-killing regulations, companies feel confident again that they have a known, predictable business environment in which to operate, which has led to positive, assured expansion and new hiring.

Increased Energy Production

America is now the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas, thanks in great measure to President Trump removing the shackles on energy exploration. There is now a feeling in the country that we can ride out any machinations or antics pulled by OPEC and still have a steady, uninterrupted flow of reasonably-priced fuel.

Military Rebuilding

The Obama-era gutting of the military is being reversed. In addition to being a source of pride for patriotic-minded Americans, a strong military pays real dividends in quality of life in the form of reduced foreign- or terror-originated threats. The country -- its citizens -- are safer with a strong military.

Improved Foreign Policy

Our “America First” approach to foreign policy is yielding real benefits for the average person. President Trump has made NATO step up and finally pay their fair share of Europe’s defense costs, which means more of our tax-funded defense spending will go to military needs directly in America’s -- not Europe’s -- interests.

Also, for the first time ever, we have an American President standing up to China’s blatantly unfair and illegal trade practices. There is finally someone who will champion our cause of fair, open international trade markets and an end to Chinese thievery of American intellectual property. There may well be some rough patches in the short term as the tariff game of chicken plays itself out, but in the end, we will have a far better economic trading relationship with China, one that redounds directly to the benefit of American companies and workers.

All the above are real things, undeniable actual events and favorable conditions that have been brought about directly and unequivocally by President Trump’s actions. Employment is higher, job growth is strong and steady, wages are growing, people feel confident enough to leave their current job and seek better circumstances (an occurrence that happens only in the very best and most dependable of economic climates).

These facts are never mentioned by Chris Cuomo on CNN or Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC or Joy Behar on “The View”. But they’re real and people feel their positive effects every day.

When people’s general life conditions are good, they have the “luxury” of being able to criticize things that don’t actually affect them directly and they are free to focus instead on the theoretical and hypothetical.

That’s the way it is regarding President Trump and his legions of liberal critics in the mainstream media. Despite all the hyperventilating on their part and their vague, unsubstantiated charges of “He’s violating the Constitution, he’s a racist, his actions and demeanor contribute directly to the coarsening of our society, he colluded with Russia to steal the election from Hillary Clinton, history will prove he was a liar and a fraud, Robert Mueller is closing in on him and he’ll be in jail soon,” etc., etc. ad nauseum, nothing concrete of any sort in any area has come forth to date. This, after two full years of breathless anticipation and vain rooting by every liberal corner in existence, there has been nothing.

Porn stars. Crass language. Bad hair. Unsubstantiated claims of reckless disregard for the law. Theoretical talking points all. All nothing more than wishful thinking about the imminent demise of a hated political foe. Someone that is so distasteful to the Left that that person makes the phony, lives-in-a-glass-house, caustic Hillary Clinton seem good to them by comparison.

There is nothing about the list of President Trump’s supposed transgressions that negatively affects the lives of American citizens on a day-in/day-out basis. The better economy and rejuvenated coal/steel/energy industries, the improved military readiness and capability, the sense of confidence about their own personal circumstances, the rising wages -- those do affect and improve the lives of real Americans on a daily basis. That’s why President Trump’s approval ratings are as high as President Obama’s were at the same point in their respective presidencies -- the mid- to upper-40% range. However, when one factors in the obvious pro-Obama and anti-Trump biases (questions structured to cast President Trump in a bad light, Democratically-weighted poll samples, etc.) by the liberal entities who conduct the most oft-cited polls (ABC/Washington Post, New York Times, NBC/WSJ, Quinnipiac College, etc.), it’s stunningly apparent that President Trump actually has a far higher approval rating among the average voter than the “elite” liberal polling entities want you to know. Their intentional understating of the satisfied regard in which the average voter holds President Trump is evidence -- once again -- that the liberal media establishment, including their polling faction, is actively attempting to shape and influence public perception, as opposed to merely reporting on it in a detached, neutral fashion.

Ask the average retail salesperson, the auto or steel company employee, or the person who works for a company that makes or markets “discretionary” or “postponable purchase” goods (like musical instruments or mid-priced recreational boats) and they’ll tell you it’s been a good year. Their job is secure. Their company is doing well. They can afford to take a modest vacation and buy some slightly too-expensive sneakers for their 11-year-old. That’s what defines a good year for real people. Bad hair, pathetic over-the-hill adult film “actresses”, and delirious fake news reports from frenetic liberal cable hacks cannot change that.