Most people agree that our Congress has become increasingly fractious through the years. Too often, partisanship hinders progress. What happened to collegiality and a spirit of compromise? What happened to finding a solution because it is the right thing to do for the American people?

The list of issues in need of pressing solutions is immense. Examples include Social Security, Medicare, global warming—which, despite the enormous consensus of scientific experts, Congressman Linder does not believe is man-made— immigration, and, finally, an official Energy Policy that will end our intolerable dependence on foreign oil. None of these problems has an easy fix. We need to bring together the best and brightest, come up with solutions, and then have the political courage to implement them. We need to engage the private sector as a big part of the solutions to these problems. The bottom line is that the national government needs to be part of the solution instead of an ongoing part of the problem. Leadership and courage - where is it?