Polls? Nah... they're for strippers and cross country skiers.

Each of us knows that we have an obligation to care for the old, the young and the sick. We stand strongest when we stand with the weakest among us.

One thing that Americans do at this time also, though, is let's commit ourselves, just everyday American people Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation I think we need to band together and say, never again. Never will we exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars.

Common sense tells us that the government's attempts to solve large problems more often create new ones. Common sense also tells us that a top-down, one-size-fits-all plan will not improve the workings of a nationwide health-care system that accounts for one-sixth of our economy.

Patriotic is saying, government, you know, you're not always the solution.

I used to wonder if the occasionally rough edges of politics were unique here under the Great North Star. But I ventured out a bit this past year, and I tell you that, as partisan quarrels go, ours really aren't so bad.

We know the only fish that goes with the flow is a dead fish.