Short and to the point- Obama's people are going door to door asking for people's support- why don't we. Organize a pledge, summer is coming- get out our comfy sneakers, and let's go door to door with...something.... I actually have an idea- but this whole site is supposed to be about working together.

A) the premise of what America should be needs to be printed up in pamphlets, etc- I work with a lot of college kids- and none of them had any idea of what Obama really stood for- and were all very receptive when I explained to them. If we can word things out in a 1+2=3 format, where cause and effect were clear, without any rhetoric, etc. people may realize what it is we are trying to do.

B) We need to go door to door to "evangelize" about this- all summer long- if the word evangelize offends anyone I hope that you know that I'm just using it as a description.

I have some ideas about what we could do in regards to writing, and a couple more ideas for canvasing- if anyone has any ideas that we can add to this let me know!

People are going to begin campaigning around then- we can lock in some support for some good representation- and get some more people involved.

It's similar to how the arts and sports are always considered non-essentials when they talk about cutting the school budgets.

Instead of having 7 janitors, maybe they could have 3, and, I know it's a novel idea, but have the kids pick up after themselves. Cut down on the 4 secretaries sitting filing their nails every time I went to go pick up my kids in middle school. Make the principal and vice principal share an assistant. Cut out the two ladies who were sitting in the attendance office- or better yet- cut out attendance altogether- maybe the secretaries filing their nails could do that. Stop assigning 7 hours of homework every night, stop giving standardized tests every other month, stop having stupid assemblies about diversity and social responsibility- all of these things take time away- and time is money. Make teachers and administrators start paying part of their medical insurance like everyone else- and no more tenure.

The school board will paste signs all over the town stating that if you don't vote for the proposed budget, then kids will lose out (fear factor)- in addition, they will lobby the kids to annoy their parents (unions and the other such fear- mongerers), until parents are so besides themselves thinking that little Tommy may not be able to play football (we may not get some vital service)l, that they vote for a bloated budget- and still have to participate in fundraisers (fees) to pay for the sports/arts programs.

Solutions to problems are not always painless- but generally they are straight forward. The US government doesn't do straightforward any longer.

It wasn't the generalization that I was commenting on- it was the arrogance which framed it.

I had a whole response to this, written out and ready to post, and then I paused and said to myself "why?"

With no savings, no retirement, 4 kids, no home to sell, 10 year old cars, how shall we "suck it up?" as you say?

Do you really comprehend how difficult it is for some people right now? When the jobs aren't coming in and you own your own business so every morning you sitting here thinking WTF am I going to do to keep food on the table for my kids? Try rationing fruit with: a 17, 16 (neither of whom can find a job- no one is hiring here- fast food, real jobs- no jobs here),15, and 5 year old in the house. Then talk to me about whining.

I live in the hub of the financial sector- for every stock broker that gets laid off, it's another client my husband loses (he's a carpenter). He takes on as many jobs as he can, and doesn't command even close to what he did a year and a half ago, because jobs are so scarce, that people can afford to low ball everything. Random people show up at his job sites looking for jobs

Sometimes people can not just "gather their things and strike out to where every day is good and wholesome"- this isn't the 1840's where I could go homestead and have a functioning farm within the next 10 years- or sooner. I can't put food on my table here and now- how is moving, and the expenses that will incur, and trying to find jobs, when every day more and more people are losing their jobs, and having no community involvement because we don't know anyone, going to fix that?

The whole point of my post was to point out that not every person who lives in (or near) a big city is lazy or looking for a government handout, and that is what your implication was- as evidenced here

"but be prepared to work your rear ends off! Here we often do it ourselves instead of jacking up taxes in order to hire someone to do the work"

that was what I responded to.

You are right- you did hit a nerve- but not because "deep down inside,(I) know (your) generalization is mostly true"

you hit a nerve because I see in what you said, an attitude of arrogance that I don't think is helpful- and I am really frightened over what is happening to my country, and my children's future- we need to be helping each other out- not making 'generalizations" regarding big and small city "folks". I feel as if too much time is being wasted with people trying to prove how conservative they are or how patriotic or whatever. While we're all sitting here trying to prove how country/city we are- they're still writing bills that sell off our future line by line in Washington.

People have situations in life. We can't always just put on our big girl panties and deal with them, because sometimes there is no answer that's going to fix the problem. Tonight, you'll continue loving your small town life- of which I am totally envious- and I will go to bed with a pit in my stomach, because I don't know where next months rent is going to come from. This isn't whining- it's a fact- I don't "feel" like I'm trapped- we are trapped. And tomorrow, you and I will be doing the same thing, and probably the next day, and the day after that....

My point is, that instead of making assumptions, or generalizations, we should all concentrate on making differences- and more importantly- connections- I thought that was the whole point of this project- to make connections- our own small interest group, of people with like ideas about responsibility, and the Republic, and all of the things we satnd to lose if this all falls apart.

I actually grew up in Southern California- Anaheim, and moved to NY to marry my husband. So I've lived on both coasts, and in two of the most "liberal" states in the Union. I also lived in Sedelia Mo for a while, and that is SMALL TOWN- people from Missouri don't even know where it is...

My point was, not everyone from the big city is some liberal democrat- and the implication here that somehow we're lazy turns me off a bit.

We have to start being proactive, there is a political value to infighting among these ranks. It has to stop- it can't be assumed that because I'm from NY, that I'm lazy, an dI enjoy high taxes. Maybe people have families, or other obligations, or maybe they like where they live, and feel that they shouldn't have to move to find freedom. Like I said- we would love to move, but it doesn't have to do with geography- what's sad is that once you get outside of NYC, it is really rural here, and beautiful. It is totally for tax reasons.

We also have the problem that you do- we aren't small town, Midwest type- but are a suburb of NYC. A small suburb ringed by hundreds of other small suburbs. We will be totally engulfed by NYC within 10 years. Urban Sprawl at it's worst.

Our major problem is that we have become a sanctuary city for illegal aliens. And no one is doing anything about it- because they are afraid of the ACLU. It is a mess.....

My husband and I live an hour outside of NYC and would LOVE to move somewhere more rural- my coworkers call me "Ruby Ridge" , because I do crazy things like listen to Glenn Beck , and my husband hunts poor defenseless animals ( but it's not discrimination...)

However, we can't afford to leave- because confiscatory taxes have us over a barrel- we make just enough to get by, and that's all. We have no savings- and it's not for want of trying- it's for needing to buy food, and pay rent.

Not everyone who lives in "big cities" wants to be here- some of us have already been churned through the machine that's coming to the rest of the country...... and now we're stuck on a sinking ship....

I do want to clarify- we are both employed, my husband has his own business (which has been built on 25 years of good reputation), have health insurance through my part time job- which may not last very long, 4 kids, rent- can't afford to own, and just generally are looking around like idiots, trying to figure out what is going on, and where we went wrong. We've had to pull 2 children out of public schools because the amount of idiocy and wasted time was astounding. The final straw with school was when the kids, who were in middle school by that time, spent a whole week studying political cartoons and how to interpret them, but couldn't tell me what the Irish potato famine was....

I feel like I've arrived at the top of a roller coaster, and it's about to tip over the edge for the descent, and I never signed up for this ride. I anticipate this drop with fear, and I had nothing to do with the choice to get on.

I like what you have to say- but don't assume that all "big city" people are lazy, and expect others to do their work. This is part of the image that media fosters, in order to stop people from socializing, and working together. My husband works just as hard as any small town worker, and I work part time, and home school 2 children (with a 3rd who will start home schooling next year). We hunt and fish, and actually eat what we catch/shoot. We do grow vegetables for consumption in the summer/fall, but we don't have too much space for that.

The problem isn't "cosmopolitan" ideas- it's snobbishness- which was exemplified by this post.......

and which we, as "big city" people, do not assume about anyone, no matter where they live.

Maybe if there is a tea party in DC on the 4th, those of us who could get there could always come a day early or late and knock on doors...... Maybe if there are enough confirmed people, we could plan out some teams, and give each team a specific Congress person to speak to. The lobbyists are doing it- why shouldn't we?