The 800 pound gorilla has survived long enough in this country. Neck deep in his waste, let's take an honest look at what's wrong in America right now.

Many of you say Bush did this....well, you're likely just as uneducated as the children the left are recently afraid to give an "F" grade to, claiming it's too insensitive to the child's feelings. "Bush's failed economic policies"? Name one that mirrors what the Democrats did via Fannie and Freddie, collapsing ours and other global markets. Heck, name one PERIOD. You probably can't. You're probably just goose-stepping along to what Jon Stewart, the New York Times, and those in your social circles used to articulate what you thought sounded like a viable complaint. Outside of that, you're clueless and you know it....so either sit down and shut up, or get educated. Because this country lets you vote, and broad strokes of unstudied political partisanship catering to nothing more than popularity - is no way to head to the polls. If you've ever once bashed Bush over the economy, but can't name even one policy....please use this opportunity to wake up, and recognize that the reality you might dart for on your favorite primetime tv shows...is happening right before your very eyes. And you are a part of it.

Here's the plan....and it's as simple as losing weight. We're complicating the hell out of this, or rather...letting those in power complicate it for us, ironically, by only increasing their power. You want to lose weight? Eat right and exercise. It's not fun. It's not easy. But it's the only way. So goes getting our economy straight, and exercising the push-ups and sit-ups it will take to make that happen:

1). Reduce government by 40%

2). Install a 13% flat tax

3). Allow the grass roots disease of complacency and entitlement, to be cured at the only level it can be: the grass roots one.

With little left to complain about, due to the spoils we've been afforded by generations who preceeded us....the government has become a sounding board and amplification system for cultural-overparenting. Like any other spoiled child, our American culture knows not what we have - or was sacrificed for that enrichment. With limousine liberals leading the charge, we define "victimhood" through unstudied, rose-colored lenses...and then coddle and reward that ill-concieved victomhood with the equivalent of steroid shots (see Obama's stimulus package), inducing only synthetic, short-term gains and ultimately counter-productive returns. In the end, we are still weak (if not weaker)...as the real answers were never made actionable or even identifiable.

Welfare? See ya! Having children without a firm, committed, 2 parent plan that provides for the well-being of the child even in light of unforeseen circumstances? Too bad! (If you haven't already, catch the first 5 minutes or so of "Idiocracy"...which identifies a snapshot of the left's base). Of course there are people who require government assistance; all who are not of sound mind and body, some who are "down on their 'luck'". But imagine how much more would be available to them, and how limited that burden would be on the rest of us, if others didn't take advantage of those programs? Marry unemployment and welfare; find the middleground between them. But begin to hold those recipients personally accountable for their own well being, and watch them (or their children, or their children's children, or those of generations to follow) become better for it. When you got bad grades, did your parents call the school to ask that students with better grades share theirs with you? Education? Moms and dads, that's on you! Poor little Johnny is doing badly because you're eager for him to have as many excuses as you make for yourself. He has a book. He has a library. The school gives him tests based on his ability to study, and if you can't or won't instill that discipline - the real failure is your own, and it speaks to the enterprise disease that has infected our homes, and has spread at state and federal levels due to political weakness. Entitlement and complacency; recipients of welfare, unemployment or an intelligent and progressive marriage of the two....should be held accountable. They aren't. Why? At a minimum, those who live off the tax dollars of hard working Americans, should be held to the same drug-testing standards that those of us who pay for them to stay home must adhere to. Why is this never articulated? Because we all clamor (well, 66 million of us anyway) to preach from pedestals about the charitable nature of our bleeding hearts...while we and leaders like Joe Biden carve out less than $400/yr actually living by those same principles of charity. How many people do you know really have it THAT bad right now? Scaling back vacations or selling the Porsche, doesn't count. We're told we have it bad, and that our neighbors have it bad....but where are they? I put 3-5 people to work each week, from other countries, who are simply hungrier, less entitled and more grateful for that opportunity. Millions of Americans believe that once in office, Barack Obama will flip a switch that has just been ignored all these years, and they will be happy and prosperous. Meanwhile, thanks to his own pandering and those of his peers and media....the real switch that must be activated, collects dust as it continues to darken our entire nation. We do need massive reform in this country, but more of that starts in our homes than most of us would like to admit....or than our leaders are willing or strong enoguh to articulate in their relentless pursuits for power.

Reduce the government by 40%, and install a flat tax that puts money back in the rightful hands of those who earned it - and holds the government accountable to the same responsible spending practices we should all have been forced to embrace decades ago. From there, begin anew, united, with the hope of optimism....and the change of clarity.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: The only "change you can believe in", is change you are responsible for. Anyone who tells you otherwise, in a capitalist society, has just slapped you in the face. If you think your government owes you anything beyond life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...you are mistaken. If you don't wake up to that individually, reset and reform your expectations and the role "personal responsibility" plays in your life...you will (continue to) fail. If constituents don't wake up to that at the enterprise level....America will.