No matter who your candidate of choice will be in this upcoming election, one thing is universally certain: there is a real need for change. Not just within our government, but in every facet of our daily existence in these United States.  Which candidate represents the best opportunity for the change we need? That I will leave for you to decide. I have my own opinion, but that is not the subject at hand. 

The purpose of this entry is to open your eyes to some of the real problems I think we have today needing our full and undivided attention. If you have been paying attention to your surroundings as of late, things are enormously out of whack. I am deeply frustrated by these problems and looking for solutions to them. I hope what I write here will make you want to get involved in talking about those problems and finding solutions to them.

Just 10 years ago, the average price of gas was between $1.20-$1.45/gal depending on what part of the country you are from. I remember taking a trip from Des Moines to Omaha, and stopping at a small rest stop in between, and paying 88 cents for gas! Can you believe that!? That was just 10 years ago!  But now because of the increase both in demand for oil worldwide and in the ineptitude, perhaps even the corruption, in our government, and the actions of sneaking, slimy lobbyists, and oilmen whose greed would make JR Ewing seem humble, we are forced to make LIFE CHOICES-choices between whether to gas the car and/or heat/cool the house or be able to buy dinner, diapers, or pay other bills-that one should not have to make a choice between in supposedly the richest country on Earth.

Folks, this is ridiculous- what we allow those in power to do to us. Right now, as you read this, in space, on a far away , cold, lifeless planet , your tax dollars are converted to sophisticated robots, who are roaming about looking for life that IS NOT THERE. Never mind what WAS there, there is nothing there now. Wait, I take that back. There is something there...OUR TAX MONEY!!! Billions of dollars, wasted. No need for me to get into what other goods and services that money could be used for...I just know with all that money wasted there, it could be used here to develop new and better energy alternatives here on Earth. And I mean one that REALLY works, too, and not conjure up something that resembles Steve Urkel's first car. (If you are a Family Matters fan, you know what car I’m talking about!) Yes, I know there have been spin offs of the technology for space exploration that have benefitted US consumers and business. There is, as well, the need to protect our space platforms from harm by other countries. I realize how the world as we know it would be impacted if all our communications satellites were shot down. But, at this time, is what we are doing in Space truly the best use of our tax funds?

Thinking about all this makes me wonder how in the world can gas be so high when we occupy a country right now that sits on one of the most oil rich regions in the world? We are filling up foreign peoples' pockets, folks.

WE are in an ill advised (some would say illegitimate) war, in which innocent people are dying...on both sides, and I don’t care about what religious beliefs you have an afterlife: death is death, and death is sorrowful. I fear the truth in the adage that a civilization is doomed to collapse when wars begin over natural resources. We are in a war for oil control. We have witnessed thousands upon thousands of souls perish, and yet still, no WMD’s, and no Bin Laden, just dead people, and "troop surges", extended tours, weeping families, and a nut case that goes around to soldiers' funerals, and degrades their memory by verbal assaulting the mourners with misused, and misunderstood bible quotes.

We as voters and citizens of this country deal with all this, and to top it off, we have a government built on favors, producing only failures. We have lost our noble way. People are losing their homes, Banks are failing, mirroring the great S&L failures of the early 80s.Our education system is in horrific condition. Somehow, "No Child Left Behind has left every at risk child behind. How can we have classrooms with 25 students, and only 16 books...are you serious?

We have bridges collapsing like card decks, killing scores of people, unexplained blackouts, US ports possibly using Mideast companies for our security in those ports- our infrastructure is as fragile as a premature baby, and as disappointing as a premature ejaculator.

And of all these things, crime is the least of my worries. We had a higher crime rate in the 19th and 20th centuries than we do now, believe it or not. But what does bother me about today is the deviant behavior that we tolerate: Child rapists, internet child porn, sex offenders, molesters, and other pedophiles coupled with (pardon the pun) governors who have sex with prostitutes and do a bad job of keeping it under wraps, to senators having gay sex in bathrooms of airports (say what you want, I know he didn’t ACTUALLY have sex with the UC, but his behavior in that stall indicates he may have done this before. What’s crazy about all this, these men have this immoral, and unnatural sex, then go home to their wives...And when they get busted, their wife has to stand RIGHT NEXT TO THEM ON NATIONAL TV, while these men tell the world how they blew it...(in some cases, literally).

National Security, that’s like saying world peace-impossible. Not helping matters is the fact that our personal freedoms are slowly being stripped away, as our world turns upside down before us. And yet, we voters seem to do nothing... and demand nothing better.

For instance, after the Asian Tsunami, the US had full aid to the people there in 2 days: It took 5 to get water to New Orleans, and the Crescent City is IN AMERICA! How about this for something you probably didn’t know: Michael Bell was the young black man who was the main focus of the "Jena 6". His cousin was arrested by the Winnfield, LA Police department, and was tasered 9 times by a police officer and died. In fact, he was tasered 3 times AFTER being cuffed. He died in police custody, and his cause of death was swept under the rug by the Department. See? Respect for our fellow American-gone.

Here are some other things we have lost, gone in the last 10 years or so: World Trade center: gone. Over 8,000 Americans due to 911 attacks and war: gone, Certain personal freedoms: gone. Billions of dollars and homes due to mortgage crisis: gone. Cheap, affordable gas: gone. Sense of security: gone. Fear of us by our enemies and respect from friends and allies the US has amassed around the world: if not gone, then severely reduced. So you see, there is an awful lot to consider when selecting a candidate this year. Yeah, surely one man can't fix ALL that, but all things start somewhere...Think about these things this election year, because there’s more on the line than you think. 

I appreciate the chance to post here on The Center Strikes Back and hopefully help stir some dialogue that will bring us to some solutions for the problems we face as voters and citizens of this country.

Editor’s Note: Sam Hunter is the host of Real Spit on Channel 109 Wednesday nights in Omaha, NE. Sam’s show is dedicated to getting people to talk about controversial topics and The Center Strikes Back is happy to add his input.