That's what the opinion polls showed.

Apparently, the Republican and Democratic parties and their candidates are "surprised" by that fact.

Personally, I'm not surprised by their surprise! After all, they all do appear to live in a different reality than the rest of us do.

It should not be surprising that after 8 years of irresponsible ever-increasing expenditures most Americans are finding that it is much harder to pay their daily living expenses than ever before.

Government has been wasteful of our lives and tax dollars:

• More than 3,000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the invasion
• TRILLIONS of our tax dollars have been spent on the Iraq conflict and that nation's restoration
• The U.S. has been more concerned with issues and policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas than with our own domestic issues
• During the past 8 years the U.S. has accrued more long-term debt that ever in its history
• More Americans are in long-term debt than ever before.

The "surprise" of the media and officials that currently voters are most concerned with the economy highlights the fact of how removed they are from the ongoing plight of the majority of Americans. Home foreclosures have skyrocketed to the highest levels ever. U.S. public education is in dire straits and the issues must be resolved if we are to save the system.

It's time for the U.S. and its future leadership to get back to basics:

• Yes we must maintain domestic and world security, but we need to be reality-based and re-determine our priorities and needs
• We must stop our growing debt as a nation and a people
• We must credit jobs at home to replace those lost to outsourcing
• We must become more independent of our need for fossil fuels
• Our children must receive a quality education that rivals that of any world nation
• While our businesses must be permitted to increase their profit motives, it must NOT be at the expense of the majority of Americans
• The American Dream of home ownership must NOT continue to be the nightmare it has become
• We need a reality-based immigration policy and we must enforce properly our current immigration laws
• We must reduce our military expenditures gradually and return our astronomical expenditures to a more normal plateau
• Sky-high property taxes are killing American homeowners and we need to resolve this issue by finding alternate sources of tax dollars
• Alternate sources of tax dollars are needed to build and maintain our roadways; toll roads are NOT the ONLY placebo cure in this direction.

The American voters still are the ones who may actually control the destiny of their future and that of this nation.

As first president George Washington preached a policy of isolation from the rest of the world. In this day and age of high speed internet and fast travel, we no longer have that luxury. The U.S. needs to modify its policies and actions with its world neighbors. We all must "work and play well together" or inevitably we will destroy each other. The Iraq invasion as well as other world situations of unrest should underline that urgent need.

As voters we must redirect our leadership to plan a course that will benefit all Americans, not merely the select few, and we must do everything we can to ensure that the U.S. restores peaceful diplomacy with all nations of the world.

Still, there is a need for the U.S. to step forward in ensuring our own security while being one of the leaders in developing and maintaining world peace, which also includes monitoring and challenging terrorism throughout the world in a joint global effort.

As a people and nation, we have much to do in the next generation of politics to get ourselves on-track to become a nation held up as a model to all other world nations.

It's time to take the first step, to elect the leadership who will be responsible in planning and reaching that objective.

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