One the best Westerns ever made was 1966’s “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.” It starred Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef.

Here in 2018, you deserve to know “the good, the bad, and the ugly” about life in California and your prospects to do good. Here’s how I see it:

THE GOOD

1. Your chance to repeal the gas tax and DMV fee hikes: There’s a pretty good chance you’ll get to vote in November to repeal the unnecessary and corrupt gas tax and DMV fee hikes with a state constitutional amendment. This one has solid language and is currently gathering signatures. If approved, it will protect your family’s money and and trump the Governor, the Legislature, and the state Supreme Court.

2. Your chance to elect a family-friendly governor (and other state and local officials — it’s an election year and that’s good!): The major candidates for California Governor are currently 4 Democrats and 3 Republicans. If you want a mostly conservative governor, you’ll have that chance if you work to help your favorite candidate get elected. But for one of the Republicans to make the November run-off, I believe it’s necessary for other 2 Republicans to step aside.

And all the other statewide offices in California are up for grabs — Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Controller, Treasurer, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Insurance Commissioner. Add to this all 53 U.S. congressional seats in California, all 80 state Assembly seats, 20 of the 40 state Senate seats, and city and county and special district elections. What’s more, there will be statewide and local ballot measures.

Bottom line, if you want to change your government, get excited about the possibility of positive change this election year! Think lovingly, responsibly, and actively. Contact your favorite candidates to volunteer yourself and your family for half a day, at their campaign offices or in your neighborhood.

(SaveCalifornia.com provides the above information solely for educational purposes and does not support or oppose candidates for public office.)

3. This might be the year we get religious freedom for wedding-related businesses and pro-life property rights for crisis pregnancy centers:

At the United States Supreme Court is the all-important case of a Christian baker who went with his religious freedom and obeyed God by not promoting a homosexual “wedding.” The fact that at least four justices took this case means at least four affirmative votes in 2018 for the First Amendment (you won’t find homosexuality anywhere in the Constitution). The deciding vote, Anthony Kennedy, seems newly concerned about religious freedom being trampled by homosexual “marriages.” Increasing our chances for a victory is there weren’t even four votes on the high court to accept a Mississippi case from the Left arguing that homosexuality was more important than religious freedom.

And for California pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, there is real hope to see the unconstitutional AB 775 overturned. This 2015 edict of the Democrat politicians required pro-abortion signage in the lobbies of pro-life clinics. At its core, forcing pro-abortion messages at pro-life centers forces them to say what they don’t wish. It’s compelled speech, a direct violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reads in part, “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.” A similar guarantee is mirrored in the California Constitution.

Now at the U.S. Supreme Court to be heard this Spring, I believe AB 775 has a good chance of being ruled unconstitutional; in the meantime, no crisis pregnancy clinic should post pro-abortion messages. SaveCalifornia.com was privileged to help find plaintiffs for a companion case “lobbying” the high court to take up this vital appeal.

THE BAD

1. More unnatural, tyrannical pro-transsexuality laws: If you’ve been tracking with SaveCalifornia.com over the past year, you know that the Democrat politicians in Sacramento (plus a handful of anti-family “Republicans”) imposed on you new laws that take away your religious freedom, free speech, and ownership rights. In effect today is SB 219, which forces California care facilities to do things the transsexual way, or face fines, closure, even jail time. Another anti-family law that will further confuse children is SB 179, which creates a non-existent 3rd “sex/gender” called “nonbinary.” In September 2018, California birth certificates must have this option; then, in January 2019, the DMV will begin issuing “nonbinary” licenses to anyone who requests one. These new laws defy reality, logic, and fairness, and they spit in the face of Creator God who made people either male or female.

ACTION: If you know of a church-based or religiously-organized long-term care facility, please contact SaveCalifornia.com at 916-265-5650. The tyrannical takeover of religious care homes by SB 219 deserves a First Amendment lawsuit in federal court.

2. Legal marijuana being sold commercially in California: Under California’s foolishly-approved legalization of full-blown marijuana (Proposition 64 in November 2016), commercial sales of pot to adults ages 21 or older kicked in this New Year. Of course, any 21-year-old who wants to make a buck can buy the junk and resell it at a premium to high schoolers. In Colorado, after highly-potent, mind-altering marijuana was legalized only for adults in November 2012, the rate of children using it skyrocketed.

As SaveCalifornia.com explains on our MarijuanaHarmsFamilies website, the Liberal Left wants the next generation to think it’s “normal” to “get high.” Studies show marijuana is a gateway drug to cocaine and meth. Teens and young adults are especially at risk from today’s potent, mind-altering marijuana, which can permanently damage their developing brains and young lungs. If pot is legalized, your health and auto insurance will likely cost more because increased addictions, accidents, and drug rehab will burden all Californians. “Drugged driving” will become commonplace. It will be a new “right” to get high on marijuana at work, even in transportation jobs. Marijuana legalization means cities and counties can OK selling pot in grocery stores and permit marijuana operatives to buy thousands of acres of farmland.

Now, the good news is the Trump Administration has announced it will combat the legalization of marijuana in California and a handful of other states. Federal law says the truth — that marijuana is harmful and illegal. On January 4, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered federal attorneys (there are 4 U.S. attorneys in California and Sessions is hiring more) to enforce the federal law. This hopefully will mean shutting down commercial growers and sellers of marijuana in California. For the sake of children’s minds, bodies, and souls, please join me in hoping and praying that this will indeed happen.

3. More illegals in California than ever: It’s getting downright dangerous now that California’s new “sanctuary state” law is being implemented. The Democrat politicians’ new pro-illegal-alien policy places sharp limits on how state and local law enforcement agencies can cooperate with federal immigration authorities, placing California squarely and provocatively in conflict with President Trump and his calls to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.” Get it? Illegals who are career criminals will not be turned over to the feds but will be released “to go back out into the community, and people are going to be victimized.”

What’s the big picture? The Democrats in charge of California have been using all the magnets at their disposal to attract people to illegally cross over from Mexico. Invaders get virtually all the benefits of U.S. citizenship, including California driver’s licenses and government welfare, with zero legal need to learn English. Today, there is hardly any distinction or benefit of being a citizen versus a non-citizen. Illegally crossing the border has been rewarded with money, so it’s no surprise that, in 2014, California had at least 2.35 million illegal immigrants.

If the Trump Administration comes in strong to rid California of illegal-alien criminals, that would be a very appropriate use of federal power on a matter of national security in the rogue state of California. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under the Department of Homeland Security, needs to get busy!

THE UGLY

1. Man-made wildfires and mudslides are the result of political neglect: The 9,133 separate wildfires in California in 2017 were not caused by lighting from the sky, but caused by negligent, unloving, or evil human beings. And the Democrat politicians in control of California government are permitting it.

Governor Jerry Brown labels California’s late-season wildfires “the new normal” and is publicly blaming “climate change” for this fall’s rapid spread of wildfires, while ignoring any cause of whoever or whatever ignited the flames in the first place.

Democrat politicians in Sacramento are asleep at the wheel. There have been decades of destructive wildfires in California, but the Democrats still haven’t passed good laws, such as requiring a wide swath — a “no burn zone” — between hillside brush and the houses beneath them; buying many more helicopters and jet planes to compose a quick-response, water-dropping “air force”; or announcing big fines for evil or negligent people who set or spread wildfires.

And beyond “downed power lines” that might have caused the big Santa Rosa fire in October, the Democrat politicians have refused to call on perpetrators to be identified and punished, when dozens of fires in October, November, and December “coincidentally” happened all at once. Wind doesn’t cause fires — people do, and there are enough evil young people in California who gain false significance by lighting fires on windy days. Yet as it is, Jerry Brown and the ruling Democrats are ignoring reality and are shunning the important warning that generations have heard from Smokey the Bear: “Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.” See more in my January 10 blog.

2. California has nearly the highest rate of sexually-transmitted diseases in the nation: The latest CDC statistics from September 2017 are described and linked here: “The problem is particularly severe in California, which has the nation’s second-highest rates of congenital syphilis. In 2012, 35 babies were infected. Last year, there were 206. “The number of reported STDs in California is increasing at a concerning rate,” Dr. Karen Smith, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement Tuesday. “This is the third year in a row that we have seen increases in chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.”

This is crisis affecting California youth! All of you who know your history or your Bible know that debilitating and even fatal STDs were rare when God’s biblical values of chastity until man-woman marriage and monogamous fidelity within marriage were embraced as the cultural norm. And there was a time when homosexuality and transsexuality, which spread STDs the most, was avoided by the wide majority of people. Oh, the protection and benefits of obeying God’s commands!

ACTION: In your own family and church, please shepherd children’s hearts so that they willingly embrace sexual purity. Here’s a great resource: “Prescriptions for Parents”

3. Nationwide, most who were raised in the Church leave “faith” behind upon adulthood: Why? The government schools’ deceptive lies against God’s existence and miracles have been very successful. The major objections of young adults who abandoned their Protestant or Catholic faith are caused, in part, by the following: Unscientific “evolution” which claims there is no Creator or Sustainer; lack of belief that miracles have happened and can still happen; lack of critical thinking in the Church; no answers to hard questions about God and the Bible; lack of comprehensive bible study; lack of consistency in parents’ faith; and dissatisfaction with the “God is in control” mantra in the face of evil and tragedy.

ACTION: Prioritize teaching apologetics — WHY to believe WHAT you believe — to every family and every youth group within your church. Free videos | “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist” | More free ideas

Korean War Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.