And then there are the larger signs. In mid-December, probably about the time I was picking out a putter as a Christmas present for my daughter, some guy named David M. Walker sends a little letter to President Bush, the Senate president and the Speaker of the U.S. House. Beyond a strong middle initial, Walker has the title of Comptroller General of the United States. Walker added up all the promises already made by politicians and concluded that: ". . . the federal government's fiscal exposures totaled approximately $50 trillion as of September 30, 2006, an increase of $4 trillion over September 30, 2005, and up from about $20 trillion as of September 30, 2000."

It's just the beginning of the 21st Century — we've barely walked over Clinton's stupid bridge — and the current solons have already piled up 150 percent more debt than all the lousy big-spending politicians we endured in the last century.

A tad depressing, no?

Seems even without any Christmas surge of my own, the government has sunk my family — if we're average — $440,000 in debt. It turns out to be $170,000 per person. So I owe even more. Great.

And yet, I'm not crying in my beer. Partly because beer aggravates my sinuses, but also because I'm pretty optimistic about the desire and ability of the average American to check our government and restore a critical measure of citizen control.

I'm not suggesting it will be a snap. The powers that control government in order to pillage the taxpayers for their personal gain will not relinquish their death grip on our freedom without a fight.

But they'll get a fight. This we know. Because we — that is, you and I, and your friends, and whoever will join us — will make it happen.