This election is coming dangerously close to all-out political party war.

Next comes shoooting in the streets.

I have become even more disillusioned by the vitriol from the fringe on both sides of the political spectrum.

William F. Buckely, Jr. once wrote:

"I have spent my entire lifetime separating the right from the kooks."

Too bad Bill is gone. We need someone to do so for both sides.

We must find a way to talk about the issues, and not pass on snide, cruel, fantastically vicious rumors about each presidential cnadidate.

Our country needs leaders who can tell us the truth about the holes we have dug for ourselves in the housing market, the financial system, and even more so, Medicare and our crumbling infrastructure.

It is time for us to work together as one nation, to collectively sacrifice some consumption for savings, investment, and improvement of our country.

If we do not, our competitive position internationally will not recover, and we will move inexorably down the list of influential and powerful countries.

We may actually have to get used to being less than number one in economic might, and as we give away that place to another country, likely China, we will also be ginving away our place as number one in military might.

Economic supremacy affords military supremacy.

We may well have to get used to depending on the better instincts of other countries for our physical safety.

This is something we have not had to understand or accept since Britain slipped in the early part of the 20th century, and we took their place.

It lasted a little over a hundred years.

Maybe that is all that a superpower can hope for.

You hold the place for a century, and then you give it away by your own ineptitude and short-sighted thinking and behavior.

Are We Going To Lose Power And Influence Now?

Do We Have A Choice?

I hope we have a choice, and I hope we can find the will to avert that decline.

We don't know how to be any other way.