WHAT WE NEED

Do we want to keep the U.S. economically competitive, militarily secure and politically dynamic? One would think so. We know that we have a long-term petroleum dependency problem and it's resultant problematic ramifications.

In order to keep America competitive and maintain our current standard of living, we need to have affordable energy. We will need to develop other avenues of energy production to reduce our dependence on oil from countries that are not all that politically stable or politically friendly.

But if we are "addicted" to oil, is it not in OPEC's best interest to keep oil prices low, to keep us coming back for more, rather than having us seriously look for alternatives? We must have the resolve to seriously pursue other energy resources, even if oil prices were to come down dramatically in the future in response to our efforts to develop energy alternatives.

Richard Nixon fretted over our oil supply and its' long term availability. Not much has changed in 3+ decades. Now is the time to aggressively forge ahead in working on resolving our energy problems for the long term, despite any future actions that might take place by OPEC to make oil cheaper and abundant.

In addition to our energy problem, we have the war on terror. This is a fight against those who are evil and want to do evil things to you and me, and to our children. This is a fight against people who will kill because they are offended over a cartoon. This is and will be, in reality, a never-ending war. But hopefully, over time, a smaller war; a war of containment, if you will. Total eradication is nonsensical and unrealistic.

Then we have the problems of North Korea and Iran, and their nuclear ambitions. These problems are serious, and while we want to work with the UN when practical, we cannot seriously expect much from the UN in terms of results. Bosnia, despite UN intervention, is still unresolved. In addition, we have the country of Israel that has been awarded official statehood by the UN, yet 6 decades later is still not recognized by some Middle Eastern countries and by a rather large number of Arabs and Muslims. The UN is ineffectual in these matters.

These are all matters of great consequences and we need to stay focused on all of them, and keenly so. Tackling these serious problems head-on is going to compel us to have a steely resolve from Washington. Hopefully, the Republicans are up to the task, willing to recognize the problems for what they are and the commitment needed to confront them. But the bigger question is, "Are the Democrats?"

At this point in time, sadly, it appears not. It has become a reactionary party, an obstructionist party, a party with no solutions. And what's worse, a party that seems to be unable to admit that these problems exist. There is no enemy. There is no war on terror. There is no social security problem. They are a party that openly cheered like elementary school children at the State of the Union address because they were successful in stopping an attempt to fix the Social Security problem that is clearly imminent.

The Democrats have spent the last 6 years trying to thwart Bush from any kind of success, all in the name of politics and party enhancement. With mid-term elections coming up, and faced with these extremely complex problems, and only 2 years left in the Bush presidency, now is not the time to turn over either branch of Congress to the wayward party.