I am not a political analyst, an economist, or an expert in American politics but I am an Everyday Citizen with a forum to express my thoughts. I am an average American citizen – I work, I pay my bills, I make contributions to charity that I believe in when I have some extra dollars to give. I am a US Army Veteran and a proud American. I believe in the greatness of this nation we call home but I have been disappointed over the course of the past few years. It is time for all of us to have our hope restored.

The RNC started on Monday as Hurricane Gustav spun ashore near NOLA. The convention was scaled back on Monday – rightly so. The focus needed to be on the Gulf Coast particularly after the horrendous handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While the focus was away from the convention the Republicans saw the opportunity to disclose that the abstinence proponent, pro-life Governor of Alaska’s daughter is five months pregnant at the age of 17. Time to review the abstinence only approach I would say. Obama was quick to say that family especially children were off limits. Good man! The media took this news and ran with it and have made it a daily topic of discussion this week. What did the republican’s think the media would do with this information – sweep it under the carpet and forget the announcement was ever made? Right.

Now let’s talk briefly about the stage for the RNC. Is it supposed to be inspiring? What is it trying to say to me? I am not sure. Speaking as a gay man I think I can say that the convention organizers should have considered staffing a couple of homosexuals to design the stage. I know there has got to be a stage/set designer among the Log Cabin Republican’s! Oh…I forget. The Log Cabin Republican’s are not a well received organization among the Conservative Republican base. My bad – now I understand the humdrum stage. Moving on…

What about the crowd? Is this supposed to be representative of the American people? If so I am a bit confused because all I see are white mostly male and gray haired American’s. I have nothing against the gray hair; I am turning 38 this Wednesday and am sporting some distinguishing grays on the sides of my head. But really – this is not a representative depiction of the people I see and interact with everyday. There was the one African American male on the stage last night after the pit bull – I mean Palin delivered her divisive acceptance speech.

Now about the three pre-attack dogs that spoke before Palin. Mitt Romney – bless his heart – where is he getting his information. He spoke of a strong America, a strong economy. Hmmm the last economic forecast I read was not all that optimistic. To paraphrase Laura Bush’s husband (I just can’t say his name anymore) the US is in an economic “slow-down” which is code for recession. The housing market is stagnant, energy costs continue to rise, the cost of living continues to rise (food, health care, etc.) and the income for most Americans continues to fall behind all of these rising costs. Maybe I live in a different America. Romney also reference the economic boom of the 80’s under Reaganomics but neglected to recall the high inflation and soaring national debt of the 80’s. If memory serves me correctly it was a Democrat that saved the economy from Reaganomics and produced the largest budget surplus we have ever had. I took another Republican less than four years to deplete the budget surplus and another 3 years to generate the highest national debt we have ever experience as a nation.

Oh Rudy Giuliani had to open his mouth and made a mockery of community organizers across this great nation. I guess community organizers are just a joke since Giuliani made the RNC attendees laugh about it. It seems to me that without community organizers there may not have been an American Revolution or a Civil Rights Movement… just name a couple. It’s the community organizers who are out there working with the underserved, disenfranchised, and the un-privileged citizens of our nation. They are not rewarded with high salaries and often times grateful just to get a thank you. I guess Rudy and the other McCainians see no value in the work that community organizer’s perform every day across the country. Instead the attendees at the RNC, after laughing about community organizers, began the new RNC mantra "Drill Baby Drill"...so they can line their pockets with more oil money instead of working on innovative ways to solve the energy issues this nation faces. I also found it interesting that Rudy proclaimed that Palin is one of the most successful Governors’ in American yet I, like most people, didn’t know who the hell she was until McCain stunned the world with his VP choice last week.

A word or two about the Senator from my home state of Connecticut (yes I am a Yankee in Missouri). Mr. Lieberman please remove your blue coat and turn it in at the door in exchange for your Red coat. Like Benedict Arnold during the American Revolution you are a traitor to your own party and to the great people of the Constitution State who elected you. Nuff said!

Now it is Governor Palin’s turn. She accepted the Republican nomination for Vice President of the United States of American last night in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. Her acceptance speech sounded eerily familiar to speeches made my Laura Bush’s husband four and nearly eight years ago. I am wondering how much was written my K. Rove? If I have to hear her say "thanks but no thanks to the bridge to nowhere" one more time I think I am going to drive an ice pick into my ear drums. It is already a tired line. But then she went on to begin her full frontal assault on hope and change – as if those are bad words. The facts she presented are questionable as outline in a fact checker article published after her speech, read here. I have nothing more to say.

Looking forward to being put to sleep tonight by McCain’s acceptance speech. I am sure we will hear about his experience as a POW even though Giuliani dragged that story out last night. As a Veteran I respect the man for his experience and am grateful for his sacrifice but I am getting a bit tired of hearing the story. I am sure we will also hear all about Palin’s “executive experience”. I predict that we will not hear much about where “executive experience” has gotten us in the past 8 years or much of anything about addressing domestic issues such as the economy, healthcare, declining wages, the declining housing market…

I humbly and respectfully submit this blog post.