GAME ON

It is time to brush off the armor and sharpen the swords.  While not quite as bloody as the War of the Roses (white vs. red) the coming election conflagration will be much more expensive and leave a larger mark on western civilization. Blue democrats will be jousting against red republicans across the countryside.  As was the case four years ago, the readers of this newspaper are living and working at the site of the projected major battlefield in 2012.  More advertising dollars, candidate appearances and news stories will be dedicated to South Western Pennsylvania and Ohio than anywhere else in our country during the coming months.  The 2012 Presidential campaign will be won or lost under our feet.

A recent editorial in the O-R was spot on.  The blue army under the Obama banner has changed.  A term in the white house has shifted its focus from vision, transformation and the giddy confidence of youth to governance, maturity and the hard issues and reality of middle age.  The former pink cloud campaign of hope is now the dark cloud campaign of preserving the heart and soul of everything that matters to me as a citizen.  No longer cast as feel good idealism, this campaign feels more like hand to hand combat in the trenches.

The blue foundations of the conflict remain the same.  To name a few:  there can be no personal liberty without systemic justice.  Practical wisdom must trump political ideology in decision making.  Our constitutional republic can only survive if all its citizens give equally till it hurts on the one hand and receive equal benefits and opportunities from their government and institutions on the other.  There can be no more trickledown economics with the few crumbs dispersed to the middle class and poor.  Religious freedom for all, starts with separation of church and state.  In foreign affairs, our country must be admired, not feared.

For letter writers like me and concerned citizens like many of you, it is time to join the fray.  It all starts with barackobama.com/pa.  Our contributions, our work, and our vote will make a difference.