Get a Grip Lawmakers! Pay Attention to Your Decisions!

Does anyone else feel it? The stress of our government and what it's NOT doing to solve the problems of our nation?

Unemployment is still high; the banks still rule our lives; politicians and the upper class are getting richer and the remaining economic classes are paying the price.

Visitors from other nations gain an education on our tax dollars just to go back to their own countries, implement that knowledge to gain a competitive edge over our own laborers here.

We allow the entertainment and sport franchises to pay their participants millions of dollars to entertain us and school teachers aren't paid nearly enough. In fact, most pay for their own teaching supplies from their own pockets.

Is there something wrong with this picture?

So, what's the problem folks? Better yet, what's the SOLUTION?

Run our country like a well-oiled corporation. Successful companies are not built on nepotism, lobbyists, tit-for-tat politics and special interest groups. Those that subscribe to that way of life don't last very long.

Rather, successful corporate entities recognize the importance and value of working together with their employees toward common goals. They reward hard work by allowing their employees to share in the fruits of its labor. They solicit feedback from them and value that input by implementing ideas that work for the common good.

They ARE NOT the ones whose CEO's have golden parachutes. Our government, in the last 10 or so years, has succeeded in alienating the American people and creating a huge shadow of mistrust and fear. Top that off with anger and we have the makings for a very unsecured and unsafe society.

Incidents like the one in Arizona several months ago may only be the beginning. Don't get me wrong...NO ONE has the right to take out their disagreement with a politician (or anyone else for that matter) with the use of violence. What happened to Congresswoman Giffords is a tragedy and my prayers have been with her throughout her recovery.

The young un-well man that shot her is by all accounts certifiable. However, he claims to have been snubbed by her during an earlier political gathering in which he twice asked her a question that she refused to answer. This, in part, led to his next course of action.

And this is the point I'm making. Many of our government officials are so into their own agendas that they are failing to see and hear the people who elected them into office.

Just like when the Republicans (as a whole) held the extension of unemployment benefits hostage until THEIR issue (tax breaks for the wealthy) was accepted and passed last December. Excuse me? When did we allow for such arrogance? When did we say it was OK to use the constitution to further political prosperity? When does this madness stop?

As a kid, I was oblivious to politics and what really went on around me. However, I did pay attention in school and I know that things were NOT as tense as they are now.

I've never been more afraid for the future—both the immediate and the one for my children's children.

So here it is: more people may be taking matters into their own hands. More unstable and desperate individuals may feel like trapped animals with no alternative but to lash out violently.

Get a grip Washington! And start paying very close attention to the decisions you're making and how those are impacting the everyday Joe that doesn't live in your neighborhood!

If I know anything for certain, it's that the survival instinct within the human species knows no boundaries when pushed to the limit.

We need some peace. We need some stability. We need leadership that truly believes in the value of its people.

We need a hero to step up NOW!