While most Americans are not generally and personally threatened by the worst aspects of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and although most Americans are not personally suffering greatly from our current economic recession, there is a great deal of justified uneasiness among the American people.
The tea party protests that have sprung up throughout our country are just one visible expression of a mood that seems to be widespread.
Many Americans are not satisfied with either our presidential or congressional leadership. Surely some of that is partisan, but much of it does not seem to be directly involved with Republicans or Democrats.
The economy is certainly on many minds. Unemployment is about 10 percent in many places, and worse in others.
We see our people facing taxes that are too high -- but are still insufficient even to come close to balancing the budget. The annual national budget deficits are about an astounding $1.5 trillion!
The national debt is $12.8 trillion -- and growing -- and interest on it must be paid.
We see much waste in government, along with extensive efforts to expand the power and scope of government over our people in many facets of our lives.
We see the recent adoption of an extensive socialized medicine plan that many people are certain will increase our economic problems more than it will solve our medical problems.
Government is growing by leaps and bounds -- but is not demonstrating by performance that it is beneficial.
The participants in the tea party movement are just "the tip of the iceberg" of general American concern. It is significant that polls show about 18 percent of those queried support the tea party movement. But surely there are substantially more Americans who are not in any "movement" or any organization but feel very uneasy about the course of our political leadership.
It is not yet clear what our citizens feel we must do in the 2010 and 2012 elections.