With ever increasing partisanship and the issues facing all of us in this day and age, the clear and present necessities for our country could not be more obvious or overt. Since we are in the midst of a Presidential election cycle, we always hear of which position the Presidential candidates believe is the best course of policy and what is not. However, what we do not hear much of is what works best for all and not just that of which satisfies a campaign or specific interests.

Since I believe that neither Senator Barack Obama or Senator John McCain is worthy or even qualified to run the country, and since I am a registered independent, I will provide more clarity of what is needed instead of what will satisfy political expediency.

Of the many issues that face all of us, no matter your politics, I will hit on the key positions of energy, water, food, money, and security.

The energy issue is one that is fairly easy to solve if it were not for a number of various specific interests representing the entire political spectrum. I believe this issue needs a multi-pronged approach. The first is more production involving nuclear reactors. Because nuclear energy is so much more efficient in comparison to coal fired or natural gas power plants, it is clear choice in providing energy needs for the world until cold fusion can be developed for general use. In conjuntion with nuclear reactors, cold fusion research and development, energy efficiency also needs be enhanced. Everything from cars to computers and even the way we transmit electricity falls under this heading. We also have to use more supplemental energy sources such as geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar. Once we have these elements in place, it will provide for a larger scale vehicle fleet powered by electric motors and/or hydrogen fuel cells. I think everyone has to face reality and accept that petroleum based fuels are not the future. I believe that for the security and long term viability of the United States we need to move away from gasoline and the oil based economy. Imagine billions of dollars a year remaining in the United States instead of going to the middle east to fund their construction projects.

With the issue of water, the solution is simple. Build desalinization plants on the coasts and pump the water where it needs to go. Build more dams to store rain water and prevent flooding in lower elevations. I know the argument against coastal water plants is that it will distort the pristine view of the coastline. I would ask you this, would you rather have drinking water and food to eat or starve and be thirsty while looking at a microfraction of coastline that would be occupied by the water plant? I would much rather have the former.

The issue of food is related to water. If we have no water production or distribution we have no food to eat. I think more efforts need to be made to save and develop farmlands instead of turning them into shopping malls and housing developments. Last time I checked, a country cannot feed itself with paved lots or street lighting. The United States having to import its food is appalling to me. We should be exporting food with more than enough for the indigenous population. We also should not be using any portion of our food supply for the use of fuel for our vehicles. Ethanol is a stop gap measure. It's a band-aid on the issue of energy that, so far, has done nothing to ween us off our dependence of foreign oil. If nothing else, it has only contributed to higher food prices.

I touched on the issue of money earlier with the energy situation. The more money we can keep in the country, the better off we will all be. The government needs to curtail and systematically reduce its growth and eventually reduce its size. We also need to stop the free for all giveway of foreign aid to every godforsaken place on Earth. The United States is not a money slut where everybody gets some. It's one thing to invest, it's another to just giveaway. At least with an investment, there is some type of return. We also have to stop borrowing money from other nations. We have to get the federal and state budgets under control and not worry about providing every possible service to every possible person. People need to be self reliant individuals, not save me government socialists.

With all of that being said, there is one more issue, security. All of the aforementioned issues have an intrinsic link to security and to one another. The solutions are clear and simple. First secure the border. Second, increase the size of the overall military force closer to Ronald Reagan levels and keep it that way with an emphasis being placed on a larger navy, long range tactical bombers and special forces. Dissolve the Department of Homeland Security and simply force the intelligence agencies to do what they were designed to do and have inter-departmental teams share information. DHS is a needless bureacracy with money being flushed down the toilet all for a coloring book masquerading as a threat board. Then redivert the money to the enhancement of the military.

Its seems obvious and logical to me what the answers are. Why can't the demi-god Barack Obama or the military genius John McCain figure any of this out? Oh wait, it's about political position, not priorities.

Alan Waldron