When Will Washington Clean Up Its Mess?

Our future is bleak. At the end of fiscal year 2011, our federal government's gross debt was 14.8 trillion dollars or about 99 percent of our economy. Our total liabilities and unfunded obligations totaled 65.5 trillion dollars.

Even if you're not a math major, you can see that we are currently facing an incredible fiscal crisis. The sad truth is, our politicians don't recognize how screwed we are. In 2007 and 2011 both President Bush and President Obama stated, "the state of our union is strong". 

If you had trillions of dollars worth of credit card debt, would you feel confident in saying that the state of your bank account is strong? Washington D.C. instead wants to polarize our country's future on either extreme cuts to our nations most vulnerable or to raise an insane amount of taxes on the job creators and wealthy citizens throughout our country. It has turned into a case of class warfare that our generation will have to clean.

Let's lay out a simple plan. Why don't we combine both ideas of spending cuts and an increase in taxes and take a balanced approach to getting America back to work. I mean, doesn't it seem simple? Drop your deep devotion to being a Democrat or a Republican and instead raise your true flag of being an American.

This past week, Mitt Romney effectively won the Republican nomination for President. From here on out it will be a battle for the White House. I hope that it can be a true discussion on the future of our nation, instead of tired rhetoric from both parties on failed policies of the past. I'm tired of high gas prices, wars, unsustainable economic policies and the same, old promise of hope and change. How about the promise of opportunity for college students like you and I?

It's sad when the average family income in Caledonia County is 30,000 dollars a year. It's sad when a family cannot afford to pay their heating bill for the winter. It's sad when a student can't afford to buy groceries because they are paying back huge amounts in student loans.

It is time for a new day, a new opportunity to create an environment that allows for job creation. I hope that Washington D.C. stops acting like a bunch of eight year olds and clean up their mess. If they don't, it'll be up to us to save America.