A Normal American

It never ceases to amaze me what I am supposed to believe in. I believe in small government, balanced budget, lower taxes and a military that is ready to defend this country's borders. You would think that would make me a conservative (right wing nutjob to liberals), but it doesn't.

I also believe in taking care of people who need it, clean air, water and food, equal healthcare for all, decent housing, safe workplaces and personal privacy. This makes me a liberal (barking moonbat to conservatives) for some reason.

I'm both and I'm neither. The story of my life. I'm not known as a fence sitter and have very little patience with people who can't make up their minds which is why I hate being a Democrat. If there is a way that we can avoid dealing with an issue, we take it up in committee. Unlike Republicans who enjoy passing useless resolutions in lockstep.

I believe that I am representative of most Americans even though some are more heavily weighted to one side or the other, which is what I believe the Founding Fathers intended. Checks and balances. A government of the people, by the people and for the people as a later president would so eloquently put it.

This has been forgotten in the rush to protect ourselves from the terrorist bogeyman. We have become unfriendly. Not just to would be visitors from other countries, but to each other. We can't continue in this vein and keep our national identity intact. We are losing our ability to compromise as we see things in just black or white and make no effort to learn about other cultures, a problem that is growing instead of receding. FYI, if someone was going to do something as bad as the stupid passenger thought, they wouldn't call attention to themselves. It would be counterproductive.

Lately we operate from a state of panic instead of a state of reason. Aren't we tired by now? It has been five years and long past the time we should have applied reason to solving our problems instead of knee jerk reactions. Fight or flight is not a good way to run a country, unless you want to run it into the ground.