They used to say, "if the people will lead, the leaders will follow." Somewhere during one the many red scares the idea arose that holding leaders accountable is somehow unpatriotic; perversely, the one time it IS still considered patriotic is when directed at government itself rather than those leading it. We need to remember how to be constructive, and how to be a community (the two go hand in hand, and just because "community" and "communism" have the same root words does not make them synonymous.) We need to manufacture, produce, educate, heal, save, invest and COOPERATE, because unless we do the last we cannot accomplish any of the others as a nation of 310,000,000 all living on top of and influencing each others lives but looking out for ourselves alone.

Self-reliance and competition are fine, necessary, but need not and should not entail parasitism and predation. It would help immeasurably if we did a better job remembering that reasonable men can differ, that having an incredibly different view of what best serves the nations interest does not make ones political opponents the Anti-Christ. I admit I am not exactly the best role model, too often let my knowledge of peoples partisanship color my view of their particular positions. However, objective good faith dialogues teach us a great deal about the motives and needs of those with whom we differ. Such conversations are also the only way to understand the individual needs and interests of others, particularly when they are quite foreign to ourselves. That understanding is indispensable to citizens leading and governing in the best interest of the nation rather than that of narrow groups whose interests are often served at the expense of all others to the detriment of the nation, and thus, ultimately, to them as well.

Widespread unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and ill health is in no Americans best interest, and it is past time we recognized that, rather than indulging the conceit that the millions suffering those problems impairing or precluding contributions to the country should solve them for themselves, without "imposing" on others. An ignorant, malnourished, sickly and unemployed public weakens the nation in ways far more detrimental to the more fortunate than a marginally greater tax rate ever could. It really does not matter how low ones taxes are if ones money is worthless because the nation produces nothing but debt and ignorant, sickly impoverished children.