I am appalled at the ignorance, gullibility, and the lack of a willingness to take personal responsibility for their actions on the part of our national leaders, and on the part of the American people. I simply cannot believe they would even consider voting for anyone with the most liberal voting record in the U.S. Senate. Yet Sen. Obama seems to be leading in the pre-election polls.

Regarding our current national financial crisis, if you want to know the true culprits involved in this fiasco, consult the Congressional Record. It provides all minutes of the U.S. House and Senate meetings. In 2004 (and in 2002 and 2003), Sen. John McCain and President Bush both warned of the potential financial disaster from the insane 100 percent real estate loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They also submitted recommendations for resolutions to reform these quasi-government/private lending institutions. They requested more oversight in the form of House and Senate resolutions.

These were blocked in committee by Barney Frank (Democrat), Chris Dodd (Democrat), Charles Schummer (Democrat), Maxine Waters (Democrat), and Nancy Pelosi (Democrat). Most of these career politicians have never had real jobs, never had to run a small business, and never had to meet a payroll, like the rest of us. Frank, Dodd and Waters were all even recorded on video and audio praising these ridiculous loans as "wonderful and working out just fine."

McCain and Bush were accused of being "alarmists" and of "undermining" the right of certain selected groups to their share of the "American Dream." Even though the Republicans had a majority, the Democrats were still able to block the resolutions, and even attacked the regulators who were trying to pass the reform bill. These attacks were, of course, all in the name of "making things more fair for the little guy." If you look a little farther, you will see that, for the most part, the recipients of these sub-prime loans were people who either, because of their own bad decisions, were not creditworthy, or people who decided it was their "right" to have more house than they could afford. These are all matters of public record. However, the above-mentioned Democratic senators and representatives will still deny their involvement, or claim that "they tried to warn the American people." Totally false. But don't take my word for it. I invite anyone to look this up for themselves. By all means, check out the Congressional Record.

As it turns out, the aforementioned Democrats (add to this list Sen. Obama) received massive, six-figure campaign contributions on the part of "Fannie" and "Freddie."

To be fair, a small number of Republicans also received campaign contributions, though not nearly as large as the ranking Democrats.

This is a prefect example of political correctness gone amok. Banks and other lending institutions were under intense pressure by Democratic leaders to make these loans. If they did not, they would be accused of (to coin another favorite liberal politician code word) housing discrimination, and subject to heavy fines and other penalties.

Now these same crooks (in my opinion) are blaming the Bush administration and Sen. McCain for the disaster the Democrats almost single-handedly created. Now Pelosi and Harry Reid are parading themselves out as "heroes," who have "saved" the rest of us from the "evil 8 years of the failed policies of the Bush administration." Now the rest of us, who pay our taxes, our bills, and our mortgages on time and in full and those of us who have owned and managed small businesses and provided 80 percent of the jobs in this country will have to pay for the most obscene "bailout" scheme ever shoved down the throats of the American people. As I understand it, it will average about $9,000 per family. This is the party of Sen. Obama, who wants to give everything to everybody(except for those of us who work for living), at the expense of the taxpayer. I wonder if his wife Michelle can bring herself to finally be "proud of America," a country which has treated them both so well.

And speaking of taxes, and the tax cuts "only for the rich": As I understand it, the tax cuts that President Bush enacted were "across the board." Those complaining the loudest, the lower 40 percent paid zero taxes anyway. How could they expect a "tax cut" when they were paying no taxes in the first place? I guess this is how liberal politicians define a benefit "cut." Even if the benefit is the exact same as last year, they call it a "cut" if they can't increase it. This explains why most states run by liberal politicians tend to be fiscal disasters.

The concept of personal responsibility seems to be losing ground in this country. I fear a country with Obama, Pelosi and Reid at the helm.

I urge a vote for McCain and Palin. Sen. McCain is a true patriot whose record speaks for itself. By the way, the amount of "earmark" or "pork" spending in his state of Arizona is zero (that's right — zero). Arizona has one of the healthiest economies in the U.S. the amount of "earmark" or "pork" spending in Obama's state of Illinois is approximately $900 million (check it out). Illinois has one of the worst economies in the U.S. Think about it.

And speaking of Sarah Palin. What a breath of fresh air!

She has run a successful business, has one of the highest approval ratings of any state governor in the U.S., and has a loving though imperfect family (just like the rest of us). What is it that infuriates the liberal media and brings on their venomous hate and snide remarks about her? I believe it is because she is so refreshingly normal, as opposed to the "freak show" the liberal media like to use as "normal." They seem to always react this way to common decency and morality. They make great humor of those traditional values most of hold dear to our hearts, and are willing to fight and, if necessary, die for. Just like Obama making great sport of those of us in small towns who 'bitterly hold on to our guns and our religion". This speaks volumes about how Obama feels about "small-town America," and Americans in general.

The liberal media was unmerciful to President Reagan, and yet they practically worship a scoundrel like President Clinton.

I wonder what Clinton's legacy will be? His affairs with White House interns? Selling military secrets to communist China?

Ronald Reagan turned out to be probably one of our best presidents of all time. He was responsible for pride in our nation again. He was responsible, more than anyone else, for the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. He was, in great part, responsible for the collapse of the evil Soviet Empire. And he cut taxes, and left us with one of the healthiest, most robust post-war economies in American history. He was one of us.

In short, John McCain and Sarah Palin are also one of us.

Michael A. Severen is a Yuba City resident.