Good morning Panama City, America, there is hope for us yet

All of the uproar over the contraception debate has helped pull Catholics and other religions closer together in what many people see as an assault on religious freedom.

We are starting to see merging of opinions in other areas too, such as energy, where a couple of years ago it would have been hard to find anyone interested in developing our energy resources.  Now most people can see that an interruption of our oil supply from the Middle East would cause us severe economic harm.  It looks like it may ding our pocket books a bit before all of the dust settles.  Some analysts have mentioned the possibility of gasoline selling at five dollars per gallon.

People from both the conservative and liberal camps are worried about the lack of jobs; sure the economy seems to be picking up but we keep hearing that it may be ten years before unemployment is reduced enough to make a difference.

Everyone would like to see new manufacturing jobs in the USA perhaps that would take a bit of pressure off the entitlement programs, and put more money back into social security and Medicare.  That is a desire shared by the unemployed, the rich, poor, and middle income Americans alike.

It is a relief to see Americans thinking about themselves as Americans again, not merely as rich, poor, middle income, conservatives, liberals, or independents.  Those classifications were given us by the two political parties, who hope to divide us into little groups of victims.

If we are to survive as a nation it is essential that we continue to think about ourselves as Americans, and elect people to serve in our government who see themselves as Americans too; people who will work hard for the USA, and for their fellow citizens.

We have too many people in our government who are only concerned with re-election and not with doing what is best for the country.  The hope that they will finally awaken to the fact that their approval rating is near single digits and decide to work for their country is a lost hope.

The only legislation that might effect jobs that is likely to be passed is the payroll tax extension and similar measures that take money out of one pocket of each citizen, and transfer it to the other pocket.

We citizens have to awaken to the fact that it is our own money they are bribing us with; and when our congressman sends federal funds to his home state, that too is a bribe.  He is telling us he has brought money to our state, and we should re-elect him because of that money.  It is our money he is bribing us with.

We have to replace these self-centered people in both parties with people who will work hard to get the last ounce of efficiency from our federal government; people who are willing to fix our problems before we too are bankrupt.

We need people in congress from all walks of life, farmers, business men, engineers, military men, and the works.   We don’t need more career politicians, we need some patriots.

Americans have always pulled together when the chips were down.  The years of the depression were hard years but they pulled us together in misery.  We were all Americans, and from that group of people who survived the depression, and fought the Second World War, arose the greatest generation; upon whose shoulders we still stand.

I have faith in you guys.  I think one day your children will look back on your generation and say you were great too; that you saved the day when the chips were down; that you preserved America for them.