Dr. Leery I Presume?

The Sixties.

Timothy Leary.

"Tune in, Turn on, Drop out."

I consider myself a political junkie. I regularly tune in to politics. I have covered it as a broadcast cameraman. It intrigues me.

I turn on to it. Hence the term "junkie." I'm somewhat addicted.

But recently I have found myself in the third part of that infamous phrase.

I am watching myself drop out.

As I have written in this space before, I was in Invesco Field in Denver in 2008 and about 100 feet from Barack Obama when he accepted the historic nomination of the Democrats to be their candidate for the presidency.

People were screaming and crying and holding one another. It was a time to rejoice, to be hopeful.

It was a moment at which we believed, however naively, that "change" was, indeed, possible.

But now, three years later, I find myself tuned out, turned off and in the process of dropping out.

I'm not paying attention. I just don't seem to care...

I am totally disappointed in Obama. The Republicans, to whom I actually listen, are devoid of ideas and leadership ability.

The entire political class is morally and intellectually bankrupt, in complete denial and totally out of touch with the average American.

The Tea Party offers a philosophical ray of hope but they, too, are unconcious when it comes to reality.

The power base in Washington is really on Wall Street and the monied interests control the conversation and, therefore, the agenda.

The problems we face as a nation are complicated and diverse. I don't pretend for an instant to have the answers but I do know one thing.

The politicians yammering to get our votes will say anything to get elected and once in office will do what their sponsors have directed them to do.

Until we start telling the truth and elect people who actually give a damn about this country more then their own pockets we will continue to be doomed to riding the slide down, down, down to our eventual demise.

This grand experiment, begun 235 years ago, has drifted so far from the moral center intended by the founders that it scarcely resembles the same country for which we have been fighting, lo these many years.

It's a tragic and horrible shame.

Obama can't fix it because he's the problem. Romney, Palin, Pawlenty and Bachmann, et al, can't fix it because they, too, are the problem.

The problem can't be fixed because we're out of ideas.

The problem can't be fixed because we're out of leaders.

The problem can't be fixed because we're out of heros.

Happy Independence Day...