We have work to do, folks

We can't look at politics, become frustrated, and then sit back down on the couch. This is a democracy; we have the power to elect and to unseat. If you aren't satisfied with the level of our national debate, get involved. When people, in a democracy, give up and believe that they can make very little little difference in the way politics works in America, if they accept that since politics has always been a dirty business (and it has, and always will be) that means we can't change it for the better or at least stem the tide, then it will decay. Everything, without proper care, decays. When citizens don't shine the bright light of accountability on our politics and politicians, human nature says that corruption, immorality, lies, inactivity, greed, etc. will take over to an ever greater degree.

We cannot afford to be dreaming idealists; politics has always been dirty and nasty. It always will be. Human nature does not change. However, that does NOT mean that we can't do better than we are now. We can. We have to elect more honest people. We have to stop electing those who pander to a disturbing degree. We have to get involved, so that politicians and others can't beat us with the complicated details of issues. We have to fight the unhealthy power of lobbyists and special interests. We have to expose liars and those who would undermine our country.

In races featuring two people we will never agree with, we have to support the one with better character. This is happening right now in the Democratic race. I will never agree with Senator Obama on a host of issues, and will be supporting McCain in the fall, but the individual with the better character is winning that race.

We have to have our feet planted firmly in reality; we have to have concrete solutions to problems, and do the slow and laborious work of changing politics for the better. There is no grand system to change, no silver bullet that will allow everyone to stop playing hardball and play clean. That's fallacy. The world is a hard place, and politics will always reflect that world. But we have to do better.