Gary, I can only tell you what Republicans say to me and what I read from Republican commentators and supporters....many are saying that the Republican party is way out of whack these days and spending is one that I hear almost weekly. Bush is just like Reagan when it comes to spending the people's money, they talk a good game, but the results are very obvious.

BTW, the Democrats have only been in power of Congress since the 2006 election, before that Republicans owned the place for 2 elections and spend like mad. Bush has his own list of failures, he doesn't need any help from Congress.

I just read another commentary a few days ago about younger voters moving more and more to the middle and not having a home. The amount of voters changing from a party to independend on their registration is staggering, IMO. The citizens are beginning to send a message and Washington and the two big parties better start paying attention. Texas Monthly had a very interesting article as well last month on the political landscape of Texas. I wouldn't be surprised if we see this state swing back to Blue soon, times are changing yet again.

If you haven't noticed, I don't draw my alliance to a party, but instead to my country and what is best for it. Right now, I don't see much in politics in our country that is good. I would say the same for our judicial system. I see two kinds of politicians today, party driven and personal driven...none for the country minus a few that don't have the power to make a difference.

Davy Crockett wasn't a great politician, but at least when he was in Congress he voted his conscience not what some party or lobbyist told him to. He ultimately killed his own career because he didn't confirm to the politics that our country employed at the time. Andrew Jackson, you know the President, did the opposite and in doing so caused great harm to our country. It is always interesting to learn more about our past and realize that in many ways nothing has changed in the last 200 yrs...

Drew

Butch, the problem has existed for decades. The only reason why Americas think it is a problem now is because it is finally affecting them. This is the short sighted visions that continue to cripple our nation's leaders and citizens. To many look at their PERSONAL lives and not the overall situation. Gas prices have been high and still are in most of the 1 and 2 world countries around the globe, it has just finally hit us in the pocketbook. The Europeans I work with (there are alot working for a German company) just shake their heads and say, what is the problem? It is their way of saying, get rid of your large vehicles, get some public transportation in place, design better automobiles and learn to adapt.

Sure there are ways to cut SOME cost today, but what about in 15 yrs when my kids are driving? This is the sad fact, no one looks to the future in our government, they only look to the next election. Americans and maybe people in general are so worried about today and their current situation that they fail to prepare for anything in the future. Look up how Americans saving patterns over the last 10 yrs...you will see a steady decline, look at retirement investments and you will see a decline except in work force driven areas like 401k, etc. Our country has fallen into a vision that life will always be great. My point is simple...our country has to get out of the quick fix, me mentality and start looking for long term solutions that are not only good for ourselves but those around us. Of course, maybe this is me thinking to much of what Christ taught to his disciples.

You speak of WWII yrs, I happen to have an 82 yr father that lived through the previous years of depression and then the war years. His comments are incredible to me on how life was lived during those times. He mentioned just a few days ago about gasoline rationing during the war and how most people got TWO gallons of gas a WEEK unless you had a job and then you got SIX gallons a WEEK. He told me the story of how they would get the gas to bus the high school football team to the next town to play on Friday nights, it was DONATED by citizens thus giving up their OWN gasoline rations. This is a very small example of why the country succeeded in WWII. He is always telling me about rationing, doing without, his school class searching local junk yards/fields for scrap metal/rubber, finding way to support the war effort. The country UNITED and SACRIFICED for the good of the country and each other. Today, our citizens care about their own well being, not that of others...a very sad fact and state, IMO. I laugh when people we are in a war time, we aren't anywhere close to a war time, just ask anyone that lived during one.

Drew