WARNING! This may get Political

Let me start with saying that I believe both parties believe that we are one nation dedicated to liberty, health and happiness, and that stems from the strength of our Constitution. After that is said, I think we have lost the moral authority to get there. Somehow, our leaders have all forgotten that the rest of the world would almost to a man come here if given half a chance. What we need is a refresher in what builds a strong country and stronger people.
First, there is a need for education and training to have a workforce able to provide for themselves and a family. If all of our children were trained and educated to the best possible level, we would be able to provide an education and employment for everyone. Our inner city schools should be assisted by the Military by providing mentors, tutors and helpers. There should be no greater calling than to be a teacher/mentor/coach to our children.
We need to make punishment exactly that. If you do a crime you should be charged with making little rocks out of big one's for the first half of your sentence. (hard productive work or you spend time with little to eat and alone) Everything you eat, wear or spend time with should be made by those in the same situation. You would have to work to eat and the living conditions would be harsh in my book. The second half of your sentence would be in an educational setting where you learn to do what you can't do now. This would include all the types of labor that we pay illegals to do. We would be better off if our incarcerated were put to work on the government rolls instead of spending $25,000 to $30,000 per year to incarcerate them.
What the hell happened to our desire to work? All my life I wanted to go to work and be the best I could be at that job. I always wanted to be as high up in the organization as reasonably possible. I had a tough time understanding Barb's not wanting to be a Principal but I did understand her desire to be where the rubber meets the road in education, "With the Kids". Trust me when I tell you that she never had a day that wasn't full day's work for the pay. She would spend an hour prior to school getting ready and an hour after work staying on top of the paper. She would spend additional hours each week planning for each child not just for a classroom. Then, in the middle she would test, plan, conduct/teach skills and re-evaluate the performance of each child. Our schools are full of teachers like Barb that are in it for the kids.
Our Government needs to refocus on what's wrong and do what it can to help put it back on the road to being the best we can. That doesn't include spending millions on programs that gives people houses, health care or for one moment takes away from the fundamental thought that if a person works he will be rewarded through that work.
OK, there is a weakness in my plan. I don't know how, given our current set of Politicians, to bring about the needed change. I think they all go to Washington with good ideas and soon get so involved in getting re-elected that they forget why they are there.
I would challenge Barack, Hillary and McCain to start talking about the problems and solutions and forget the rhetoric. Stand up, tell us what we all know and tell us how we are going to fix it! If you stand for change, what the hell are you going to change? I think our voters will recognize truth at least three time out of five. I recognize bull shit about 9 times out of 10. (I have purchased some stock in my lifetime that went south)
I would love to hear what you are going to do with the soldiers if we withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq. If all you are going to do is hollow out the Army, Navy and Air Force to have more money to give to voters so they will vote for you, damn your ideas to hell. If you are going to put those people to work on our border and in our schools, welcome aboard.
I think it is about time we started on the high road about drugs. Putting people in Jail because they have gone for the gold of easy money does take them off the streets. How do they stand up when they get out without some job/education and way to feed their family. Our unintended consequence is that Petty criminals have to turn to further major crime because of the stigma of being a criminal with a record. Put a finger in that problem and stop that flow and we will be 100% better down the road.
OK, end of the rant for today. Just know that there is still a lot of issues in there that haven't been talked about and I will try to give you fair warning.
MUD