Fighting Back: What kind of country do we want for all Americans?

Many of us are angry and divided. Today's radical politics have changed the rules of fairness. It's more about power, not progress. It's more about appealing to prejudices and fears. It's more broken promises and lying to the public. It's been about special interests, not public interest. Religion and values belong to all parties, not one.

The largest threat to our future and our kids' futures are big corporations. ”K” Street capitalism has replaced Democracy as the largest threat to citizen power. Money is replacing ideas as the currency of politics. We have to stop the corporate wish list being our Congress' to-do list. Our elected officials need to spend time in our communities, not just Capitol Hill.

My friends and neighbors are Democrats, Republicans and Independents and their opinions matter. We're not enemies, so let's talk about possibilities. There's plenty of room for improvement and it's time to try something different. We're facing the need for a grassroots revolution. Politics must put people first by solving shared problems with common sense solutions.

Common sense is pervasive in countries where there are thriving communities with job creation, affordable housing, good schools, and the elderly maintaining quality of life. It's about healthcare, not corporate welfare. It's about workers not paying for executives' leadership errors. It's muscular domestic security managed by Americans. It's a foreign policy that respects our allies and achieves energy independence. It's higher mileage vehicles, not drilling.

Education is a shared community responsibility. How about tax cuts for corporations that create jobs and contribute to worker education in the United States? How about higher tax deductions for charitable giving to fund education? How about permanent tax cuts for the middle class so we can pay for our higher energy and education costs?

How about rolling back Bush's tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires? That will return trillions of dollars to our federal budget. It'll end deficit spending and begin national healthcare. We're the richest nation in the world. "We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."

Now that is a country worth fighting for, worth dying for. Is this your American dream? It's mine.