Our ability to stop the federal government from spending us, our children, our grandchildren and our great grandchildren into poverty appears inadequate. For most of the last five decades, the federal boys have spent out of control.

Today? Only more so.

Even worse, this main course of debt and diminished economic freedom invariably comes with a side-helping of reduced political rights.

Am I too pessimistic? In other contexts, a friend calls me a pathological optimist. But reality is reality . . . and solving a problem usually requires recognizing it first.

The problem isn't simply that President Barack Obama is a recurring nightmare, a mere 82 days into his administration. Ranting about Obama and the Democrats, however thoroughly justified, should not obscure the hard, cold fact that this very same big government mentality dominated a government wholly captured by Republicans.

There is nothing partisan about our predicament.

And there is always hope, because there are so many committed and courageous freedom-loving Americans, as I regularly report to readers of my Common Sense e-letter. Somehow, we'll find a way to save our Republic, to restore our liberty to breathe the sweet air of this land into our lungs and then, also, to exhale.

(This is not merely vague, lofty rhetoric. Our government has already determined that we are "polluting" the planet by breathing out carbon dioxide . . . something I've grown quite fond of doing. No telling how long we'll be permitted to exhale.)

One easy step we can all take is to attend a Tea Party this Wednesday, April 15. Look for one in your area and take the time off work to go. Your country needs you. Continued...