Four years ago most were not aware of the extent of the problems or the politicians inability to lead. Forty years from now as many of us come to the end of our "golden" retirement, we and our children and grandchildren will have passed judgment on the politicians of 1996-- and the citizens who elected them.

2007 NOTE:  While the optimism in 1996 was misplaced and our political system has become more plutocratic and dysfunctional, the bottom line is there is no alternative to putting faith in "we the people" -- that the people will eventually realize  political hot button issues like stem cell research, abortion, and guns have been used to confuse and divide us as our, and our country's pockets are being picked -- of treasure and ideals -- and while blaming the politicians is easy, the real problem lies with all of us who have been too easily seduced into equating the good life with cell phones made in Korea and big screen televisions made in China, too enthralled by trivial entertainments, and too busy and uninterested to learn about our government's budgets, programs, and levers...  and all too often underestimated the power of a united we the people to make change.         

        Our democracy is an evolving, fragile experiment.  Every generation has faced challenges to keep it going for the last 200 years.  We have been entrusted with this experiment and will determine if it is to continue or cease.  Our challenge is not a cold war with a superpower, or a hot war with a third-world country, but threats to our economic, social, and moral survival from within.

        The basic premise of democracy is that the people as a whole will choose what is in their best interests as a whole.  But this assumes the people know the facts and have a choice. Now intense polling and an overwhelming desire to win elections have prevented Republicans and Democrats from telling unpleasant facts because basically they have lost faith in the American people: they don't believe the American people are smart enough to understand hard facts, strong enough to make hard decisions, or selfless enough to make hard sacrifices for the future.  But as the Eastern European politicians recently discovered, truth can't be repressed forever.  And when the American people discover what the current politicians failed to say and do, they will also understand why.  And they will be mad as hell.

        Hindsight is easy.  It is also accurate in showing right from wrong, truths from untruths, what and who works and what and who doesn't.  At some point in the not too distant future we and those who follow will blame this generation for choosing the easy way rather than the right way, for ignoring problems rather than solving them, and for choosing timid politicians who told us what we wanted to hear rather than leaders to tell us what we should hear.

        However well intended, it is clear that many government programs have grievously failed. Welfare is a good example.  The present philosophy is to give money and food rather than work and opportunity.  This has helped create third-world countries within our inner-cities -- countries increasingly apart from America's spirit and ideals, countries without heroes or hope.

        Jobs provide more than wages.  They provide a sense of accomplishment, self-respect, and self-worth -- and just as important, let each person contribute to our system rather than take from it.

        During this election everyone is calling for change -- Democrats and Republicans alike.  No one is defending the status quo.  But change is not easy -- particularly when it involves economic dislocations and hardships.  The sad fact is that real change has not, and cannot, come from politicians whose biorhythms are regulated by daily sound-bites, weekly polls, and bi-annual re-election cycles.  It must come from the people.

        The American people know that words are cheap, deeds are true; that politicians work to win elections, leaders work to win a place in history; and that politicians sidestep and pander to our worst, while leaders step forward to challenge our best.

        Our rendezvous with destiny is close at hand.  No country can live forever beyond its means -- or beyond its ideals.  Given the facts and a choice, the genius of the American people who created our system will also change it.