SDN Columnist Rich Mayfield in his Feb. 20 column “The new secessionists” is a perfect example of a petty practitioner in any activity. Mayfield's unoriginal slamming of the usual — i.e. “Sarah Palin, Tea Partiers, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Tenthers — is the talk of a tiresome and dull columnist. Mayfield's own words “yammer” and “anguished agitations” speak to his own mindset about Texas' supposed secessionist threats, the “… benefits of watching the backsides of (sic Congressional) malcontents …” and claims that such secessions by certain states would reap lower crime rates, raise educational levels, diminish health care costs and national debt, blah! blah! blah! This is pure pettifoggery and claptrap!

I am one of the millions of Americans in discord with our president and congressional representatives, and I am not aligned with any of Mayfields “slam” targets, or those in opposition on the other side he didn't slam. Nor am I interested in any secession from my country. I am, however, very alarmed at the excessive self-interests of this president, his staff, and all congressional representatives put in office by the American voters to work constructively for the best interests of the American public. However, when I hear 91 “I's” and 36, or was it 39, “me's” used by our president in his State of the Union address to Congress, warnings go off in my head that Obama is like Narcissus i.e. the youth who fell in love with his reflection in the water. In other words “It's all about him!” I have yet to see President Obama make eye contact with the American people when he speaks publicly. Frankly, his head moves side-to-side and up and down reading from tele-prompters so often when he speaks to the American people that I now think of him in the context of a “Bobble-Head.” I distrust this president, his staff, and this Congress more than any I can remember in my 50 years of voting. The failures to-date of this government's actions are sadly representative of how the majority of Americans feel about our current government in general.

This president and the Democratic-controlled Congress have already proven themselves to be “The Party of Broken Campaign Promises.” The claims of success by Obama, his staff, and the Democrats/Independents in Congress of their multi-billion dollar programs are twisted shams, and at worst lies intended to cover up their failures. Worse yet, the “sitting” Democrats/Independents have shown their constituencies a lemming-like voting record that fails to fulfill promises made to their voters about righting the economy, employment, eetc. And, while I'm not happy with Republicans (except perhaps in Massachusetts), I have less of a problem with them saying, en masse, “No!” to the Democrats' attempts to force one-sided, secretly drafted, bad legislation down American's throats. The majority of Americans want our elected agents to think independently and truly represent what the majority of American people want, not special-interests. If American voters do not “clean house” in upcoming elections, and beyond, I fear, among others, the following: The US Debt load will be so huge as to reduce our country's ability to have any commercial or political influence abroad; new and significantly higher taxes will be assessed on the American people (50 percent of the population already pays 97 percent of Income taxes); Instead of reducing debt in the future, as promised recently, the national debt load will further increase in the future; unemployment will remain high; more small businesses will fail and cease to exist; and, in 4-6 years there may no longer be a middle class in America. Let's send government a strong message by (1) communicating at every opportunity our views of their self-interest actions, and (2) voting in new representatives starting in the November mid-terms, who will truly fulfill, not ignore, their campaign promises to their constituencies that got them elected!