As more and more of a deal is made about Barack Obama's middle name (it's Hussein, by the way), it just serves as a distraction from the real issues of the day.

The name Hussein does not gender much love in this country, and with good reason. To say everyone who carries the name is the same as Saddam Hussein is not fair, but Obama's middle name is the least of my worries about him.

His response to it all, however, does make me wonder what he feels about it. My middle name is Anthony. It happens to be my father's first name. If I were to distance myself from it, or demand no one call me by it, in my mind, it would be an affront to my father. If you don't like a name in this country, you can have it legally changed.

All that aside, however, I don't think Obama has the experience, or the right policies, to lead this country. I think he is mostly style and little substance when it comes to politics and policy. I think setting up one government program after another, and pouring more money into existing, failing programs, will only cause more of what he believes needs to change. More poverty, more companies going overseas, more inequality.

There's only so much regulating and freedom you can give up before you are no longer a democracy. We pushed that envelope for most of the 20th century, and are continuing to do it now. Even our Republican presidents have been doing it since Reagan, and even Reagan had his compromises. Perhaps compromises are necessary, but in many ways a compromise only forestalls the inevitable rather than fixing the problem.

And the problem is there's already more government than we have any real need or desire for. There is no reason to continue to grow and feed the beast. It needs to shrink and attend to just the duties afforded it in the US Constitution.

We would become more of a Nanny state under Obama than we already are. There's plenty of wealth still floating around, and there is plenty of poverty--but the involuntary redistribution of wealth is not the answer.

Obama's foreign policy is naive, to say the least. I don't think we need to go to war with everyone, and that included Iraq and it includes Iran, but to say everything can be resolved diplomatically is so far unrealistic that it begs the question: just what kind of a fantasy world is Obama and those who truly believe him living him. In order to have diplomacy, you have to have an opposing party who is interested in earnestly and honestly entering into an agreement. If they are constantly trying to kill you, or destroy life as you know it, there's not much room for negotiation. So far, over the course of hundreds of years, if not thousands, there has been little movement towards modernization, outside the places of Arabian princes, or democracy, other than platitudes with price tags--like oil and arms.

Post 9/11, we can no longer be naive. We cannot let Jihad win the physical war, or the psychological war. Christianity in America can tolerate other religions, even those which are not Christian based, even if they believe they are the only true religion. People can be respected for their difference of opinion, because we recognize we all are sons and daughters of the same God. Radical Islam does not recognize that. Radical Islam is absolutist and does not hesitate to execute the heathen or the infidel.

I don't agree with warmongering, being the mercenaries or the police to the world, but I do believe we should defend ourselves. I do believe we should help others who want our help. We should promote democracy, liberty and freedom. We don't do that by surrendering, or believing we are evil because we don't subscribe to a philosophy which oppresses everyone, particularly women, and shows as about as much regard for human life as they do animals.

No, we shouldn't hate all Muslims. We should oppose that would kill us without a second thought. We should defend ourselves against all forms of tyranny. We should deny anything resembling it to permeate our government, our society, or our common creed.

Having Hussein as a middle name shouldn't disqualify you. There shouldn't be prejudice. Looking at the policies beyond the charm, though, Obama shouldn't be president based on any of it.

How about frustrated?

There are some things that anger me--but it's mainly out of frustration.

Frustration that there are so many laws and regulations.

Frustration that the federal government is seeking to spend (at least) $3.1 trillion. On what? Part of my frustration stems from the fact I don't know where my money is going, or even why it is going.

Frustration that government does so little right and so much wrong.

Frustration that someone who's short on substance but great on style has a really good shot to become the next President of the United States.

I work for a living. I don't dig trenches or do anything which would be considered a hard living, but I do work. I provide for my family. I have bills and debts. I feel responsible. I feel like it's my obligation to take care of my wife and sons. I feel like no one else has the primary responsibility but myself and my wife.

So, it's hard when the federal government wants to do this or that. Be Big Brother, or the Nanny. It's frustrating when more of my tax dollars goes oversees in the way of aid to countries which later end up being our enemies, because we armed and fed them. It's frustrating when every new social or economic program gets sent out, or unfunded mandates get sent to the states.

Like the author of the article "Angry White Men" said, I want to make my own way in the world. I don't expect a handout, but I do expect a fair deal. Doesn't mean I'm guaranteed success, it just means I'm guaranteed to succeed or fail based on my own merits or lack thereof. I don't like regulations which inhibit what I want to do. I feel like I have common sense and the wherewithal to get something accomplished, and am not afraid to seek out guidance if I need it.

It frustrates me that so many of us are just letting things happen. Maybe we don't know how to stop it, but a lot of us either don't care, or somehow believe it's the role of the government to have such a say in everything we do.

It doesn't help that people aren't responsible. It's tragic when innocents are hurt because of this irresponsibility. Perhaps there are a couple of things government should jump in and take control of and do.

If businesses, for example, were self-regulating--or paid a third party perhaps to set and enforce standards, there wouldn't be others who felt government needed to keep a watchful eye. I don't buy completely the fact that the free enterprise system is infallible--but it's not because of the system itself. It's because, we, as consumers, don't do our due diligence when it comes to such things. We aren't all smart enough to be careful with the cup of coffee, and to not use products for what they were never intended to be, and we do sue over such things. Our health care system can point to all kinds of things. It happens to be the nexus for everything which can go wrong will go wrong. That said, we could have worth, and government owned health care is not the solution. Big business health care, at least for the common every day things, doesn't seem to be either.

We've been listening to the naysayers about the economy, as well as those who think things are just fine, and it's hard to know who to believe if you're not making money with your business, or you're going to be laid off or the company you've invested 10 years of your life is going out of business. There's some of that going on as always, just as there are those who are prospering despite of it all.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand we can't keep running up deficits on the federal government side, debt in our own personal lives, trade deficits, and whatever other negative growth we can think of before we'll be so far under we can't come back. There needs to be some restraint in spending on all levels. There needs to be some long term perspective and restraint, and to invest in a rampant consumption kind of system will eventually burn itself and cause even a harder crash. Resources are plentiful, but they are not infinite. Some moderation is essential.

So, there's plenty to be frustrated about. At the same time, we're the greatest country to ever exist, and continue to be the greatest country. People aren't looking anywhere else before they find out what we're doing our what our leaders think. We are the people the rest of the world turns to and depends on. If we're going to continue to be that world leader, we can't just run it into the ground, either through big government or free enterprise run amok. We've seen communism fall. We're witnessing socialism as it fails. We don't need to go that way.

We need to work on sustainable growth. We need to work on common sense and personal responsibilities, from the individual, to the family, to the community and all the way along the spectrum. If we don't, then we will fall, just as surely as other nations have fallen.

This is a choice land above all other lands, with a promise of protection and prosperity from the Divine. That promise is revoked if we don't keep our side of the promise.

So, am I frustrated? Yes, I am. I yet hold out hope, however, that we are not in a hole we cannot climb out of or a wrong course we cannot correct. It will take more than a president, or a Congress. It will take like-minded people everywhere to correct the course and keep the faith.