"Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies. From these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." James Madison 1795.

Considered to be the "Father of the Constitution", Madison was the principal author of it and was primarily responsible for writing the first ten amendments. Yet, doesn’t it seem odd that today, those conservatives supporting the continuation of our war and occupation of Iraq and are standing on the Constitution as their platform, choose to ignore the words of the person who was most responsible for the document our country was based on.

Let’s face it, our economy is staggering. This is partly from the opulence of our life styles; our wasteful utilization of natural resources; and our “if it feels good, do it” philosophies. However, as Pulitzer Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has determined, the war, if it lasts another year, will ultimately cost us 3 to 5 trillion dollars. (In case you can’t comprehend five trillion dollars, if the dollars were put end to end they would go to the moon AND BACK almost 100 TIMES). And, it is this cost and the debt it has incurred that our great-grandchildren will be paying back (maybe in yuans since we’re borrowing from China to keep this thing going).

Surprisingly, although support for this war is only advocated by 39% of our citizens, half of the voting population is still likely to support John McCain who has promised to continue this war indefinitely. On the flip side, half will support Hillary or Barack who promise pie-in-the-sky fixes to current woes (health care, economics, immigration, etc.) but never mention how they’re going to pay for the projected 5 trillion war debt. Taxing the rich is o.k. with me but I fear there are not enough rich folks to cover national health care, refurbishing of our failing infrastructure, stemming global warming, fixing Social Security, dealing with immigration, AND the 5 trillion in war costs. McCain says he’ll do it by cutting government “pork” (but, of course maybe add another 5 trillion in continuing the war).

What scares me is that the voting public seems more concerned about what Barack wears in his lapel or what the minister in his church may have said 2 years ago; whether Hillary should have divorced Bill for infidelity or whether she has real emotions; or whether McCain was really a war hero or why he went through a divorce many years ago. Well, my vote will be based on a lot of factors but none of those will be in the top 1,000. I plan to consider whether my grand-children will have opportunities for college and a profession or whether their children will have any educational opportunities; whether they’ll be obligated to 2, 3, or 4 tours in Baghdad; whether global warming will drastically change (if not eliminate) our way of life; or whether I’ll need to put bars on the windows of my home to keep the immigrants out.

Now is the time for us to get out of our self-serving rut and begin to seriously look at the future. Do I think we’ll do it? Nahhhh!