We're in the midst of a summer of discontent.
You may have seen polls showing that most of our people do not think the president and Congress are leading us in the right direction.
Of course, opinion polls don't elect anybody, voters do. So we as a nation cannot evade our own responsibility for the conditions that are troubling us. Among the circumstances that have made the recent months so bleak are:
Unemployment above 9 percent.
Our long-term military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as President Barack Obama's more recent decision to involve us in attacks on Libya. We have no admiration for Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, but there is no assurance that rebels there will defeat him, nor that they will be a clear improvement on his oppressive rule if they do triumph.
The absence of an adequate plan to tackle our $14.6 trillion debt - despite some recent window-dressing by Congress.
Taxes that remain too high on many Americans - plus talk of raising taxes higher still.
If we are dissatisfied with the president and Congress, it's not as if we have no reason to be.
What, then, should we tell them with our ballots when Election Day rolls around in 2012?