text: at this rate, how will we ever reach consensus? reps/dems continue to bash each other in an effort to sound witty.   we all take what they give us to be the truth but we will never know the whole story from where we sit.  in y!a we don't know what is going on and i have yet to see anyone say something like, we are in a big mess, what can we all do to preserve what is left of our great nation.  we have a decimated manufacturing base, a national debt that is seemingly impossible to eradicate, no one wants to work together, partisanship is the norm, and thinking/feeling humans castigate one another for sport.  noone will dare protest in the public square.  noone marches on washington without permission.  the power elite have us right where they want us and we are only allowed to choose what's on the menu.  artists/poets are silenced.  talk is cheap.  reps/dems - all of you - you should be ashamed. this forum is not representative of the whole population.  a lot of people talk as extremist in y!a.  although you make it seem like you are the only one with a head on their shoulders when you say "all of you" should be ashamed.  isnt this the kind of generalized speech which you are against?  people are entitled to their opinion, no matter how extreme and irrational it may be, it is their right as an american.