I'm also tremendously disappointed in the Democratic Party and their inability to take the political risks I think are needed right now to preserve our national identity.

What I see from the leaders (Pelosi, Reid, Clinton, etc) right now is that same mindset that doomed Al Gore during his presidential bid. Instead of Gore becoming his own man and standing up strongly for the things he was passionate about regardless of the risks of alienating some segment of society, he allowed the handlers to define what the message and his image should be.

The DNC is doing exactly the same thing right now weighing political risk and taking the safe road in their master plan to regain the political clout of the Democrat golden years. They should be ashamed of themselves. Our country is in crisis, our political leadership needs investigation and impeachment, and guys are dying needlessly.

Now not all the Dems are acting this way. The splinter group of the progressive Dems are standing up against the entrenched power. Problem is they don't have enough clout to pull it off.

We're also seeing rogue Republicans fighting the power block. I'm really enjoying listening to Ron Paul as he exposes the hypocrisy of the contenders in his party.

Cindy's right in this one at least in principle. Problem is that our system requires an alignment or at least a truce with one of the major parties. Without it your voice trickles off the stage.

We need so desperately a viable third party in our national debate. Unfortunately the Libertarians are as goofy as Disney's proverbial mutt and will never be taken seriously until they figure out some compromise between their insistence on no government at all and the reality of essential services that have to be done by a central authority and the small sacrifices of individual liberty that have to happen in a large and diverse population to keep check on the fallibilities of human behavior.

Art