Probably, the most important issue that all Americans need to support is drastically changing the way we elect our public officials. It has been estimated that by next November, the candidates for the two major political parties will have raised and spent a billion dollars to elect our next president. What a waste of money. What we need is an awakening among ordinary Americans to the reality that rich people, large corporations, lobbying groups don't give tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars for moral or principled reasons. They give these large sums of money to win favorable contracts and special treatment for themselves. Donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom at the White House and then have a bagel the next morning is not their only agenda. They end up with lucrative contracts. Many of these special deals financially hurt ordinary Americans.

We need ordinary Americans to demand public financing of all elections from the lowest elective office to the presidency. Laws must be passed making it a crime for any candidate to take even a dime toward their campaign expenses. The League of Women Voters can create pamphlets with each candidate's views on the issues and oversee a series of debates televised to the public. The period of time for campaigning would be substantially shorten. Wouldn't be nice to have poor, ugly yet highly intelligent people run for and win positions in our local, state, and federal governments.

With the rising prices of home heating oil and gasoline that are controlled manytimes by international corporations that care very little about the welfare of common American families, we need to band together and demand that our current elected officials either change the way the rich and powerful influence our elections or elect people who will carry out our wishes. Enough is Enough!