As the year 2006 is upon us, George Bush and the Republican party have been in control of the US for a little over five years. I would like to share with you my perspective of what this past five years have been about as an American citizen.

First of all when George Bush Jr. won the election in the year 2000, I believe it was set up illegally for him to do so. Of course this cannot be proven, yet neither could the claim of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Since George Bush JR. has been in office the American poor in this country have suffered greatly. Those of us who flourished under the Clinton administration have once again found ourselves struggling to survive and make ends meet on what we had hoped would be a decent standard of living by now.

Rising costs on nearly everything from cars, homes, home heating and gasoline prices have parlayed many groups of businesses as well as individuals and rising health insurance costs are simply inane for most folks.

The outsourcing of jobs has put many people without a good academic education into a playing field of minimum wage jobs, not because they are not qualified or able to apprentice and learn, but because there is cheaper labor overseas. And as many college graduates are finding out, having that education does not guarantee you anything in life.

One in every 138 Americans are incarcerated and prisons have become big business. Our airline companies seem to be going bankrupt one by one and now our biggest car manufacturer is in trouble.

The United States is in a massive amount of debt, much of it held by China, and the baby boomers are wondering what happened to the Social Security money they paid in and why the age of retirement keeps rising.

The public school system in the US has been in shambles since the Vietnam era and every president and administration claim to be doing something about it.

Health care and poverty in this country must be addressed and soon. Ecology and Earth changes must be addressed as well.

The current administration did not get us into one war, but two. We went to war with Afghanistan and I am still trying to figure out why we went into Iraq. At the time I believe there was pressure on George Bush Jr. and his administration to get publicity away from former President Clinton, who was not only well loved but also genuine and in touch with the people. The heirs of the political arena also knew that if we were at war, President Bush Jr. would have a better chance of staying in office a second term as most people don't want to change leadership in the middle of a war.

I met with a friend who had returned from Iraq last year and had gone there as a contractor with our government to help rebuild. He went there with the greatest intentions of helping the Iraqi people to have a new and better start. He came back here with lymphoma and disgust for what he saw and experienced as the lies perpetrated about any real rebuilding occurring there. He told me it was all a sham and that nothing is really moving forward in the area.

I met with a nineteen-year-old soldier last month that was deploying to Iraq for at least a year to eighteen months. He is an awesome young man and will see things in this war that are so unimaginable that even if he survives he will probably be haunted for the rest of his life.

I currently have a granddaughter that has just joined the Navy and I am hoping that she learn about service to humanity in an honorable way instead of a warring way.

I have aging parents living on fixed incomes that need plenty of medical care and cannot believe the prices of prescription drugs. How much money does it cost to make and bottle pills?

I want to know how many Iraqi and Afganistani people have died during these wars. I want to know what drives individuals to strap a bomb to themselves and feel they honoring god and their people by doing so. I want to understand the desperation one must feel in order to do such a thing. These people that do this must not be able to find purpose in their life in any other way.

Religious radicals in this country fight over using the word Christmas instead of Holiday, radicals in those countries believe that the will of god guides them to declare holy wars.

We, in America, armed and trained the Afganistans in warfare against the USSR. We promised them then to help them rebuild their country after that war and then we simply abandoned them. We helped them find purpose in becoming warriors and they continue to use that education to implement war. It is looking a lot like that is what we intend to do in Iraq as well.

More and more we want out troops to come home. Less and less do we have the money for a continuing war or rebuilding of Iraq. With this country of America, it always comes down to the money.

I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I registered to vote because there was a man named Bill Clinton who so inspired me when he was running for the presidency that I simply had to vote for him and his causes. It was because of people like him, Martin Luther King, Al Gore, Obama Barack, and women such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, Carol Mosley Braun, Maxine Waters, that I look at politics and its operations. What I have discovered is disheartening at best.

I've learned about special interests and lobbying, I've learned that we have so many laws in this country that we are each probably breaking one everyday, even if it is spitting on the sidewalk. I've learned that it doesn't really matter what party is in charge, the problems we face as a nation about proper education, healthcare, the poor and social security always seem to get shuffled to the bottom of the deck. I've learned that the only way to get anything accomplished in the political arena is to become a politician.

I believe that we have sunk to about the lowest point a country calling itself a superpower can sink. Nobody in our Governing body talks about or addresses the real issues of Big Oil and Corporate money market institutions as the problems daunting the economy and well being of Americans. This Middle Eastern war that we engaged ourselves within is about oil, plain and simple.

Americans don't want to truly know and understand that "we" are the major polluters of the Earth's population. Everyone wants to heat their house and drive their cars but no one wants to exact the changes necessary to make these things happen without more oil production.

I believe that we have all the resources we need in our own Country to sustain us with the food, water, and minerals needed to live comfortable lives. We have scientists all over the world who have come up with new and innovative ways to run cars and heat homes that need to be discussed and implemented. The necessities of the future need to be what makes sense now to help us get along as a planet.

I am person who believes that change is the only constant in the universe. I believe that change is the key to growth, learning and expansion. Historically if we look at the damage wars have done to the earth and her peoples you would think that we could change the destructive course of needing them.

Political and monetary agendas must change around the world for all people to have shelter, food, water, clothing, opportunity and education. Humans are a fairly young species to inhabit this planet and need to have more respect for their environment. Money can no longer rule the world. Without the sharing of resources and the commitments needed to restore the planet and her other species, we are doomed to live through a different kind of dark ages than previously understood.

Value for all life and ecosystems must take priority if we are to heal the effects of the ozone holes and global warming. This kind of thinking is just common sense.

I see no rationale for the way the current governing system of the United States is governing. Issues such as insanity and hardship are not being addressed. More people with developing hardships are surfacing as we cut more and more of the programs that assist them. Many individual and group views are radically opposing others and Religion is waging its own war with one another and our Government. We as a country are out of control.

We are indoctrinating our children to believe they do not need to pay attention to the peaks and valleys of nature or how and where their food is grown. We have lost any sense of balance and now either swing right, left, conservative or liberal. We are failing to pay attention to the so-called little things of life that scientists have been telling us for years are dire. The Arctic ices melting, global warming, saving rain forests. Its simple science that we need to quit polluting rivers, streams and oceans.

We have developed into a country of consumerism that facilitates the making of everything from appliances, automobiles, beds, electronics and clothing that wear out in a short time and must be replaced. This creates a massive amount of garbage piling up in landfills. Recycling should not have to mandatory but an aware process that is just rational.

How can we as a country who spouts its intelligence and compassion show so little respect for the earth and other cultures of human and animal life?

When Governing religious bodies run their countries according to their beliefs why is our place to tell them it is wrong? We do not want other countries toppling our President and Government because they have decided how we live is not democratic.

Yes I know that there are great inhumanities plaguing the peoples and cultures of the world and I know that there is a great amount of corruption among most, if not all, governments.

I just do not understand how any one group can decide which ones to attack and which ones to let slide. We as a superpower in the world are not god incarnate. There is nothing in our background that gives us the right to decide who are savages and who are not.

When we came to found this country we labeled the American Indians as savages because they were different than us. Their rituals were different, their spirituality was different, the feelings about family and community were different, and even though we invaded them we still made them the bad guys. I think the USA likes to morally put itself above most everyone. We want the world to see us a the good guys yet we are still attacking others beliefs, spirituality, sense of community and general well being by deciding what is right and wrong.

We need to start living and working like a community who knows our very survival depends on cooperation, sharing and valuing our resources and various species of life. Our country with its great minds and intelligence's should be creating diplomats that help bridge the gaps between other countries and us. We should raise our children to understand the workings of nature and how to be in balance and harmony with her. We need to help rehabilitate individuals coming out of prisons and teaching them skills that can help them stay rehabilitated. We should address the drug population and assist them with options and opportunities that help them overcome addition and stay clean.

All schools should be offering project based teaching as well as core knowledge academics. All children do not learn through the same methods and techniques. All children were not born to be genius scientists, politicians or college professors. But all children were born with an ability to learn and become. It is our responsibility to adequately set up a public school structure that allows them to excel. This hasn't happened since the 1940's.

Where are the apprenticeship programs for the children in high school to become employed and self-sufficient after graduation? Why is so hard to find affordable vocational training for those needing new and better skills?

Earth changes are currently abounding and shall continue to become more devastating in the years 2006 and 2007. We as a people of the world need to start coming together to help one another grow, excel and become. Governments are supposed to be by the people for the people. I think it is time for people, to be for the people, and everything else that is important to us as a planet as well.