I just wish...

...that someone would channel Ronald Reagan and speak their mind for a change instead of taking 100 polls to find out what people are thinking and then saying whatever fits the crowd they're addressing at the moment.

There was a time that people chose a candidate based on that candidate's views and stands on issues; now they vote based on color, gender, and soundbites that are choreographed specifically for whatever group they're speaking to. Do you think Obama would've made his "bitter" comments to a group of steel workers from Pittsburg? Of course not!

People need to hear the truth, regardless of how it affects them at the time. Is there a candidate out there who fits the bill?

Sadly, I don't think so.

Here's a few of the things we need to hear:

Government needs to justify every nickel that it spends. "Earmarks," or "pork," or whatever they call it these days, needs to go away PERMANENTLY!!! Unless there is a Constitutional mandate for the spending or a specific law that requires it, Congress should only appropriate what MUST be spent to fund such items!

Someone needs to tell the unions of this country that the time is past for the rich deals they've always enjoyed. Ford, Chrysler, and GM will continue to exist, but they may very well take all of their manufacturing jobs out of this country where labor costs are more reasonable. The time for fully-funded health care, fully-funded pensions, and exhorbitant per hour labor costs is past. Our manufacturing concerns cannot compete on the world market with costs per unit as high as they are and, unless something changes and that right soon, the goose that laid the golden egg will be cooked and the last of the eggs will be gone.

One thing government HAS done well over the years is gather the best minds toward a common goal when times demand it. It's time to free America from the chains of foreign oil! Toward that end, we need a "moon mission" to develop an alternative form of transportation that is reliable, relatively inexpensive, and easily adaptable to our current infrastructure. Personally, I think hydrogen is the best bet, but who's to say? The fact is, huge sums of American money are moving overseas to pay for energy and foreign interests have us literally over a barrel. When it becomes more profitable to produce home-grown energy than to buy it overseas, American energy interests will do just that. We, therefore, have to make it so and that as quickly as possible!

Iraq was a lie from the start. When people found out that there were no WMDs, they tired quickly of the excuses for our staying there. We must formulate an exit strategy, communicate it to the Iraqis and the American people as well, and execute it with all due haste. It is time for us to see to American needs before we attempt to build states elsewhere. Instability in that part of the world is nothing new. In fact, if that part of the world WERE stable for a change, it would be highly unusual indeed!

Oh well....that's a few of the things that we need to get going. I just wish we had a candidate who would stop taking opinion polls long enough to say them!