Everywhere that I go, people are constantly telling me that they hate politics. I know one couple that absolutely forbids guests from bringing up the subject. I know a few others that will employ any number of subject changing tactics. At dinner last night, even my mother says she is sick of politics and government. Why is that? Now this is an opinion piece and as such, I am not going to defend my hypothesis too rigorously, but here is my take on politics. The chief reason people hate politics is because government practices exclusivity. Individual people have no voice. Groups of individuals have no voice. The only people with a voice are those outfits writing enormous checks and getting what they want. The vast majority of working stiffs see government and politics as something entirely out of their control. The land of fat cats. They are probably right. They see politics as a source of anxiety and confrontation and see no reason why anyone with half a brain would engage in potentiall...

I was in awe as I read this story. In awe that someone with the intelligence to finish medical school can't read loan documents. In awe of the ridiculous costs of college. In awe of the fact that 60% of all student loans are in default. In awe at the size of that loss. About 450 billion, or half a trillion. Not in awe that the government administers the program. So if every American's piece of the total 60 trillion in debt is 500k, this gal owes a shade over a million bucks. That's a lot of credit extended in exchange for potential. After her 36-39% Fed taxes are paid, her 10% or so in state and property taxes, and her 7.5% -8% in SS taxes, that's only going to leave her 40% with which to pay back that million bucks. She will need to send in 30 thousand dollars for every year for the next 40 years, accumulating interest factored in. Because she is 41, she will have to live to her full life expectancy to pay the debt. Slavery? We hardly knew ye, yet ye will know me now. ...

I had a friend once who said, "If I saw an elf walking down Main St. playing a tuba, I wouldn't be surprised." My friend never believed he had seen everything. Today, I read about Senator Bayh's comments. Bayh, a Democrat Senator from Indiana is stepping and down and refusing to run for a third time although he was likely to win. In fact the headline in this story claimed he was "disillusioned." Written by a lefty press, that is the label that this writer chose. I have a different word that should have been used in this story's headline. Insert the word "enlightened" instead and please read the link. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1134 Bayh thinks incumbents will get ousted en masse in the fall. I agree. Republican groups will think of this as a great victory. It's not, knuckleheads. The biggest block of voters in this country call themselves independents. And if they had an organized and viable third party, such as the Libertarian...