At this point in the campaign for the 2016 Presidential election, it appears that many Americans are, as the saying goes, “fired up.’’ For the first time in at least a couple of decades, voters in both parties are being vocal in their opposition to Washington Politics as Usual. They want change - dramatic change.

Most of us would agree that we’ve watched multiple elections with first one political party in control and then the other, and things not only didn’t get better, they got worse. It’s mostly our own fault. We’ve been willing to let Uncle Sam take care of everything for us and now we’re beginning to see the error of our ways. Big Government now impacts almost every aspect of our lives.

A huge percentage of American workers are employed by the government at one level or another rather than in private enterprise.  Towns and individual states no longer run their own schools but rather must kowtow to government mandates.  The same holds true for businesses, forced to follow rules and regulations which put them on the brink of insolvency.  Our medical profession is also tightly regulated and health care costs go from bad to worse.  Ask some of the local businesses and their employees how Obamacare, touted to cost us all far less, is threatening to drive more and more working folks into poverty (if they give up work and go on the welfare rolls, then  they’ll reap the benefits). Our tax code has needed revamping for decades. In a nutshell, hard-working folks, the backbone of our society and economy, are struggling to survive.

All of us love to talk about “the good old days,’’ which some folks laugh off, but we can remember quite well early in our working career when a single household paycheck was sufficient to pay the mortgage, buy excellent health care coverage on our own, drive a late-model car, afford the week’s groceries and even have money left over for fun and recreation. It was only fifty years ago, folks! In the interim, the government has taken over everything.  

Most Americans who have been grumbling under their breath for years now are finally screaming “Enough is enough.’’ It’s time to make sure that all of our elected political leaders are in agreement that it’s time to get Big Government off our backs, and return more controls to states and individual communities. Choose your candidates carefully. We don’t need more promises this time around, we need action.