...if we are to understand what has to be done and communicate with our elected representatives as to what we want them to do. I only hope that they will listen. I'm not giving up on the hope that a lot of letters and e-mails somehow make it onto a log somewhere in each Congressman's and Senator's office as a point of reference anyway.

I'm encouraged on this initial day of the new administration that our new President seems to be seeking broader political consensus than he really needs just to pass some bill in Congress. If that pattern continues, maybe the level of political polarity, idealogical back-biting, and Congressional gridlock will decline. Without that, maybe our elected representatives really will begin to listen to what their constituencies want.

P.S. to Gnu...I erred with the $120 billion number that I used in an earlier post. I looked at a statement on the upper left of the web page you linked and read "...$10 billion per month" and missed the larger number below. The larger number is actually more encouraging in that it provides a larger opportunity for spending reductions. Maybe we won't have to make Draconian cuts to Social Security and Medicare.