Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right; here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

As our country’s political division continues to grow, the bigger picture continues to shrink. Rather than concentrate on the issues that matter, Republicans and Democrats alike waste precious time and money trying to discredit the opponent’s candidates.

Both parties have lost sight of what their jobs are supposed to be about. The role of our government should be to serve and protect the best interests of the citizens of this country. At this point, we would be lucky if they were interested at all in the citizens of this country.

While the Republicans manipulate the law to enforce unconstitutional practices, Democrats scrutinize the Republicans and complain about their actions. Where is the Democrat’s action? They believe everything is a scandal, and therefore spend their time (and money) investigating every little thing they see.

Conservative values have swept the majority of the nation. While we were in a war that no one was seeing any positive results from, people were actually more concerned with keeping homosexuals from marrying each other. And so Bush was re-elected. Considering that gay marriage rights are voted by state, it was a sham platform to begin with. It targeted the ever popular Christian values which so many Americans hold so dear. Do Christian values mention anything about squeezing hard earned money out of and lying to an entire country of citizens? Do Christian values say anything about driving the economy you’ve sworn under oath to protect into the ground?

Growing up in a relatively liberal household, I never agreed with the Republican point of view- on anything. But ever since Gore “lost” the election in 2000, the Democrats have started hiding behind the Republican’s mistakes. The only reason the Democratic party looks good is because the Republican party looks so bad. How does it look when your party comes out on top by default?

Now that the Bush administration has dragged us into a war based on lies and exploitation, it has become easier than ever for the Democrats to sit back and look good. They should stop sitting back and looking good, and stand up and look around! The only concentration of their efforts takes place when trying to gather incriminating or discrediting information about a Republican party member. A channeling of time, energy, and money of that caliber could solve the world’s hunger problem!

I have decided to place myself to the left of the middle. I certainly don’t agree with the conservative movement; I am a liberal at heart. I will always believe in a woman’s right to choose, and I will never believe in the death penalty. But I can’t align myself with the liberal party because they just don’t get it, either. It is time to stop feeding off the mistakes of the Republicans (that would solve the world’s hunger problem) and take charge solving the problems that really need attention. It’s a shame that America, known as the greatest country in the world, has two major political parties and neither of them truly understands what it is that makes this country so great.