Astute comment Larry.

Regarding partisan politics. Partisan politics is not the enemy. Our system is founded on partisan politics. If everyone was in the same party then we would have a communist society, (in the sense of "commune") not a democratic one. There really is a philosphical difference between someone who desires a strong centralized and often intrusive national government, and someone who believes in a smaller, less intrusive central government and stronger state governments. It is incumbent upon those who wish to lead our government to state clearly and forcefully what their beliefs are so that the voting public can make an educated decision when it comes time to vote.

The issue, as I see it, is not partisan politics. It is politicians who, as Larry said, are corrupt at the heart and so therefore have to spend all their time attacking their opponent rather than putting forward their vision for whatever office they seek, be it mayor, senator or president. Americans, with all of our divisions and different ways of looking at things, are really quite homogenous in certain respects. We want to be safe, we want our children to learn and to be safe while they are doing it, we want our parents to enjoy the fruits of their hard labor, and we want to have a chance to give something back. There are legitimate differences in opinion about how we get those goals met. Let's have a civilized debate about those differences every 2 or 4 years, and then after the voting is over let's see if we cannot work together to meet those goals.

Let us agree to disagree, and be agreeable while we are doing it.

Freightdawg