Miss Wright, you have my sympathies and I agree with your sentiments, but for God's sake, GET YOURSELF AN EDITOR! This article is embarrassingly full of avoidable errors: typographical, spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Believe me, this sort of sloppiness is ammunition in the hands of those who would demean you. Don't help them!

Excellently well put. However, there are three phrases that human beings stoutly resist learning to use: "I don't know." "I was wrong." "I need help." How often have you heard a politician use any of them -- and how likely do you think it is that Romney has mastered them, much less the Republican Party in general?

"Hypercriticism is a time waster and regular Americans should avoid these red herrings and keep the country focused on holding politicians accountable for the things that matter." "Should." Ah, my favorite word! But in the Land of Should, no one ever commits a crime. No one ever goes hungry or without shelter. And no one ever blames a politician for the deeds of other politicians. Your mission, Miss Alexander -- and I don't give a damn whether you choose to accept it -- is to solve the "should" problem: To find a way, using your perch in the media, to GET voters to care exactly and only about candidates' current positions and past performances in office. Let us know when you've solved it.

"Some would apparently prefer a society where all-wise elites would decide what each of us "needs" or "deserves." The actual history of societies formed on that principle -- histories often stained, or even drenched, in blood -- is of little interest to those who mistake wishful thinking for idealism." -- Thomas Sowell "Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the cost becomes prohibitive." -- William F. Buckley.

A politician whose premises and appeal are envy-based can only rise to power in a nation where envy has been cultivated and allowed to become widespread. Here in America, that campaign has been coupled to a campaign intended to inculcate undeserved guilt in all those who have prospered through honest effort. Together, the two are near to dismantling the Republic.

Aw, c'mon. Only about 98% of politicians are worthless, predatory, and venal. They DO give the rest a bad name, though!

"You are required by law to respond to this survey" -- ? I'd tell you what my response would be, but this is a family-friendly Website.

If this Westerwelle character is a libertarian, I'm an astronaut. Confront, contradict, and refute this further corruption of political language! (PS: I'm not an astronaut, nor do I play one on TV.)

"[Big corporations are] too opportunistic, too eager to abandon the free market and work with the government under the false flag of the greater good." At last someone says it where others will see! You cannot have Big Business without Big Government. It takes government interference in the economy to eliminate the competitive drawbacks of corporate giantism. There's an optimum size for everything, including every sort of company -- and only government meddling can make a company larger than that size at all viable, much less hugely profitable. Thank you, Jonah!

You could argue with much justice that Obama was already above his competence level as an Illinois state senator. Remember all those "present" votes?