MAY 5, 2008 --

How long ago was it that gas prices half those shown in the accompanying images were thought sky-high. Then the prices went to $2 and up.  At the time of Katrina, prices were over $3. What is going on? They are crossing into $4 now.

This piece was supposed to have been written a day earlier and it was going to lead with the prediction that no way can a Republican get elected.  So, by waiting a day later, I can refer to front page report in The Wall Street Journal that according to a Wall Street/NBC News poll only 27% of voters have a positive view of Republicans.(Are the 27% the extended Bush family?)

The curious thing about the poll is the claim that Senator McCain is running "nearly even" with the Democratic candidates.   Excuse me -- but could it be the voters still would prefer other candidates?

For LPR, the key aspect of the poll is the finding that only 15% of the American people see the country headed in the right direction with 73% see it going astray. This is not exactly a sign of confidence in our political leadership -- is it?

What are those of us not sure how we are going to make it through the year, let alone into the future, think when we watch the Democrats and Republicans flaunt their wealth and power at the party conventions -- conventions from which ordinary people, will, as per usual, be excluded.

For LPR of course, the country headed off the right track when it permitted credit card companies to squeeze people who made the terrible sin of making a late payment to get a whopping 30% interest charge on the entire balance -- not just the amount of the late payment.

Now, we have a Federal Reserve no longer but, instead, a tinkering reserve.  And the aim seems to be to maintain stock prices -- while the interest rate tinkering does nothing but fuel oil speculation apparently. (While not lifting all stock prices at the same time.)

According to one version of the quote, Ben Franklin said, "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately." If we are in the middle of an economic war, it is time we agreed that we need to hang together too, or we will get picked off, one by one.

Look, for years, I have been pleading for attention to be paid to the common good principles of Federalist 57, and I have been writing this as someone who decidedly is not a liberal.  

All I can do is appeal once more to the blogs of the country to unite and demand our politicians …

1) commit themselves to the public service commitment expected of them in No. 57, and

2) demand an end to the predatory business practices by usury-wielding credit card companies and banks -- for whose good, I ask -- the sacrifice of the many to the ambitions of the few?

And lastly, is there one person in this country not related to a Clinton or a Bush who is capable of honoring the legacy of liberty left us by the Founding Fathers who just have to be terribly disappointed in us right now.

Well, all I can do is say my piece and hope someone will respond. Let me admit -- it is one thing to start out as a Lonely Pamphleteer -- it is quite something else to stay that way, which means no one agrees with you. Okay then, but how come only 15% of people think we are headed in the right directions -- and 73% see us going wrong!

For the honor of our Founding Fathers, will someone in the media open up the Federalist Papers, read them -- and ask our politicians why they seem to serve in direct opposition to the counsel given us by Madison, Hamilton and Jay Brian Ross, you work at ABC News as an investigative reporter. How about examining what the Federalist Papers are all about and challenge candidates to show how they will apply them -- or will they ignore that sage advice?

And for the honor of the Founders, can we please have a leader who will be of us, and with us, and respected and respectable. That is to say, will the American people please in 2008 elect a president we can all be proud of?

Well, I know … I know the way to get this country turned around is by way of heeding the advice of the Founders, but as long as people are reluctant to go back to basic principles, no point in making an argument that is not heard.

So, I hope you enjoy the pictures that follow -- and ponder the fact that two of the images say that as of now, we are hanging separately.