Candidates brought forward by the GOP and the Democratic parties represent their parties and the special interests that fund them, not you and me. These candidates must conform to one of the two, usually diametrically opposed, political platforms. This candidate-selection process gives us fiction-based polarizing campaigns, a failed education system, trillions in public debt, and a tax system for special interests.

Candidates should represent the people who elect them. That's how the U.S. House of Representatives is supposed to work - members represent the voters from geographic districts within each state. We should be voting for individual candidates, not a political party.

There is a process that does allow citizen representatives to be selected by the people in their local district. These candidates are not associated with any political party and will limit themselves to two terms. Go to GOOOH.com to learn more.

Serving in Congress should be an honor, not a career.

Billy D. Clifford
Austin, Texas

"What if conservatives who preach small government wake up and realize that our interventionist foreign policy provides the greatest incentive to expand the government?" - Ron Paul before the U.S. House of Representatives, February 12, 2009

It baffles me how some conservatives who rail against the excess and waste of big government here at home, in particular its uncanny ability to mismanage and squander our money, still have this benevolent view of government when it comes to our meddling abroad. Not only that, but how can we with a straight face decry the welfare state (socialism) here at home, all the while endorsing free handouts to other nations paid for by our tax dollars?

Foreign aid to Israel is often a popular point of controversy when discussing our foreign policy. As is often the case, the media prefers shocking sound bites rather than critical analyses in order to shape our opinions on the topic. We are encouraged to believe in this two-dimensional world view that all Israelis love the idea of America financing their country.

From the recent Quad-City Times commentary "Independents MIA in Iowa Q-C," there seems to be some confusion as to what SuperLiberty is. Started in December 2008 as a local, nonpartisan liberty alliance, we promote all groups who support liberty.

We favor no party over another. We are neither Republican nor Democrat, Right nor Left, Conservative nor Liberal. In fact the American two-party monopoly perpetuates a false issue-based division amongst the people and helps to prevent us from uniting under the common cause of personal liberty.

As with most movements that threaten the status quo, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is being co-opted by that very status quo, under the guise of class warfare, in order to continue pitting Americans against each other.

This movement needs to focus on the big picture. The government facilitates the monopolies that corporations use to exercise their greed. And the Federal Reserve funds these elites' escapades - wars and welfare - with bailouts and inflationary money presses.

Protesters' anger should be directed at the Federal Reserve System, an unconstitutional banking cartel, and corporatism - the merging of big government and big business.

Ron Paul has pushed for an audit of the Fed. When America realizes the Fed creates the economic cycles that strip us of the hard-earned fruits of our labor and makes us poorer through the inflation tax, the Fed will be put out of business and we'll see the restoration of sound money.

OWS should take a look at OccupyTheFedNow.com to understand the real problem.

Mike Angelos
Davenport