Let me first say; this is not a Democrat or Republican debate. I don't want to bring up the past, but instead, look to solve problems for the future. This is not a blame game post but rather a problem solving one.  As President elect Obama said; "This is not about Democrats and Republicans, it's about Americans."

What inspired me to write this post was the; "Questions to Obam" posts. I see the majority of them asking, "What are you going to do for me, or my group!" I find that very disturbing. I'm not sure what happened to; "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"

  I have a son that will be 19 years old next week, a daughter that will be 18 years old in March, and a 13 year old daughter.  My son and oldest daughter work and go to school locally, and as I look at the direction we are headed in this country it has me wondering, "Are we making the right and responsible decisions for their future, and are we really thinking about the outcome of these decisions we are making as a country?"  With that said here are a few of my concerns;

• 1. Amnesty for illegal immigrants; Should we be giving away jobs in a tough economic time, or anytime? Should State and federal government be paying for medical, schooling, and welfare to non-citizens with States looking at bankruptcy and our huge National debt?

• 2. H1 andH1b Visas; Large Corporations insist they need Scientists and Engineers from other countries because we lack them here, but recent data shows, Graduates from U.S. collages in these fields can't find work or their pay is very low. Is this the right thing to do?

• 3. The bailouts; Although a tough issue how will it affect our children in the future? Are we avoiding tough decisions now for future generations to deal with?

• 4. Social Security and Medicare; Are we looking at the best ways to fix these for the future, or refusing to look at the hard facts for selfish and political reasons?

• 5. Government Healthcare; Are we taking a hard look at the total cost of all our social programs, and are we looking at the lessons learned by other countries before we make these decisions?

• 6. Looking to Government to solve all our problems; Have we reached the point that we are so incapable of making our own decisions that we need the government to do it for us? Are we sure this is something we want to hand off to future generations? How would the founders of this country view this?

These are just a few of the hard questions we face as Americans. I can't help but look at the taxes we pay now and wonder how they can possibly be less for future generations given all these scenarios. I guess it boils down to; can we look our children in the eyes and tell them we are really trying to make their future better?  I wonder!