It seems obvious that too many of our institutions have rested on their laurels and have been running on inertia. Our faith in them was justified before, but needs to be restored through a major investment in time, thought and strategy to rebuild our country from the ground up.

From our schools, police and fire departments, to our federal government's ability to serve the needs of people, to our cities and roads and bridges and hospitals and airports. We created a super power in the 1940-1960s and too much has been left to just decay.

We need people in America to be part of the system, to learn, to vote, to serve (military, AmeriCorp, TeachAmerica, ETC) to own property, to care about each other, to believe in the country, to pay their taxes (with richer paying their fair larger share), to invest in ourselves.

And people cannot do that when scared, filled with anger, fed lies about the Government, when they are harassed, abused by police, under fed, under educated, when they worry about lack of healthcare, being shot or robbed, when they see no hope, when there are no opportunities.

State, local and Federal government agencies need to be resources, do be motivated, to have a vision, and politics has to be a place for committed citizens who want to improve our country, not some pop culture vehicles for settling scores or going on Fox TV.