Put America's Interests above Parties -- 35 days until the National Election

We are now five weeks out from an election that it seems will swing heavily in the Republican's favor. Sure is a stark contrast to what was witnessed two short years ago. The Democrats were swept into power promising "Change we can believe in." Well, who believes them now? They have no one to blame but themselves. Sure, they promised to remedy the economy and the majority of the American public bought it, but we haven't taken a step towards solving anything. This country's current economy feels eerily reminiscent of Chinese water torture, but if the Democrats are swept out of power will we see any improvement?

In 1994, the GOP was placed in charge of both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years, because they proposed a real agenda. Republicans wasted the opportunity to truly reform our bloated government. Instead of implementing “The Contract with America” one step at a time, they overreached and achieved very little other than welfare reform.

Over the next 12 years they compromised to the point of abandoning their core principles. While the current Republican Party is unrecognizable, the Democrats have kowtowed to the extreme elements of their party to the point where our country is economically stagnated by a sea of taxation, regulation, and litigation.

We have to get back to Innovation, Ingenuity, and allowing small businesses to thrive. This does not come about through convoluted tax measures and capital loan funds controlled by Wall Street and Washington. This comes from getting off of small business peoples' backs and reducing their cost of doing business. This comes from reducing their financial regulations that cost them ridiculous amounts of money, when they have to hire lawyers and accountants even to take the most simple steps towards growing their businesses.

We need to have Fair Trade, Capital liquidity, and we need to rebuild the infrastructure foundation of this nation before it is too late. We see problems with the roads, transportation system, waterworks, and electrical grid all of the time, yet little is being done to modernize these systems. Is the plan to ignore this problem and hope that it goes away? Why were these issues ignored by the stimulus boondoggle (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) passed last year?

We can’t grow our economy without energy. I’d love to do it with Solar Panels, Windmills, Hydroelectric, and Nuclear energy, but go do some homework and see who has stood in the way of those resources -- both parties. There have to be tax incentives and fast tracks to foster research and development. Tax incentives are also needed to make alternatives affordable to the average consumer. Will the shortsighted tax revenue lust and control issues of our bloated bureaucracy allow for this to happen?

In the meantime, Fossil Fuels are the lifeblood of our economy and our dependence on foreign oil and multi-national corporate interests is definitely a National Security risk. We have seen energy prices fall to reasonable levels compared to what they were over two years ago, yet what we have seen is that Oil prices have moderated due to a reduction in World demand and not because anything has been done to address the energy issues we face. The Oil Bubble only burst because the economic growth pressures that were inflating the price are no longer there.

We have also seen the tragic Oil explosion that occurred in the Gulf. I admit that I am a fool, because I trusted the corporations to have the interests of the American public in their mind and thought processes, when they decided upon practices they would exercise when exploring and extracting oil. Of course the Federal Government played a role in this mishap by not insuring that proper procedures were followed. I still believe that there are safe methods available to extract oil resources, and I believe that we must utilize these resources, while we build towards our future energy assets, but we must have proper and accountable checks in place to ensure that no situation such as occurred in the Gulf happens again. If you don't know what you are doing, then you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

I would still rather be looking out for American National interests than sending millions of dollars to dictators. The Energy industry supports high paying, high tech jobs, whether it be current or future alternative resources. I believe that addressing our Energy Demands and infrastructure needs is integral to making our economy grow. If you truly want a bright future for generations to come, we must dispose of the rhetoric. Our nation's bomb and rebuild strategy is not only having a detrimental effect on the world stage. It is hurting our own society. I do not want to be an empire. I agree that we need to be more efficient in our energy usage, but we cannot conserve our way to the energy independence that would be best for our nation’s security.

The last thought I would like to leave you with is that this country is not about being a Republican or Democrat, it is first and foremost about being an American. The two-party system has been about politicians serving their own interests. You, the average rabble do not belong, all you are there for is to provide campaign contributions for their parties (pun intended), so that they can continue living the high life.

People get caught up in the team competition and the horse race. That is what they want you to do, because it puts you into an acceptance of an either/or fate. We must demand an and/both strategy. I am awake! I realize that neither party has a monopoly on right or wrong. I am unwilling to take the good with the bad and I think it is time to move away from Least Common Denominator politics. It is time for people to rise above the mud and mire that is American Politics and demand that we get back to the Objectives of the American Ideal!