Even before the June primary election, it was obvious a Terry Branstad/Chet Culver contest would mainly consist of sarcastic, distorted, personal, accurate, and not-so-accurate attacks.

Despite serving five terms as governor combined and a term as lieutenant governor and two terms as secretary of state respectively, neither 2010 candidate has published detailed plans on how he would lead the efforts to fix the problems that plague Iowa: spending, taxation, education, and governance.

So it is no surprise the two took their "fried eggs" and "cooked books" televised warfare live to the stage of the Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City on Tuesday, September 14.

If you still believe that the current 111th Congress is representative of the American people, then you exist in stubborn denial, likely as a victim of the most deliberately dumbed-down mainstream media in U.S. history. But you skate on that excuse only so far. After a while, when every instinct in your civic being tells you something is dreadfully wrong with what is passing for news each day -- makes no difference whether via the networks (ABC, NBC, or CBS) or cable news (CNN, MSNBC, or Fox) -- it's time to trust yourself and seek alternative news sources. All mainstream news is designed to keep you blaming the "other party," living in fear, and taking no personal responsibility.

If you are gullible enough to believe the yellow journalism that passes for news anymore, then you really have no one to blame but yourself, especially for ignoring what your instincts are correctly trying to tell you -- that the mainstream media is basically the public-relations agency for the govcorp (the unholy alliance of international mega-corporations composed of energy, food, finance, communications, insurance, and pharmaceuticals; elected officials; banksters; government bureaucrats; union bosses; large not-for-profit foundations; Democratic/Republican party leadership; and the cabal of lawyers loyal to the bar before the U.S. Constitution) that is seizing America's resources, and with it, our liberty.

Sooner rather than later, each of us will have make a decision about his/her national identity as an American. The question will be whether, as an American sovereign, you are willing to relinquish your status in favor of a merging with other sovereign nations, beginning with Mexico and Canada most likely, to form an entirely new form of international/global governance; hence the term "new world order."

This choice of national identity is no longer science fiction. The media has finally brought this grave issue into mainstream focus, and the evidence points conclusively to just such an eventuality. Every day, America is drawn further into the global financial meltdown through Washington's policies of intervention, financial aid, and our own out-of-control borrowing that forces taxpayers' participation on whatever level our international creditors dictate.

The biggest thing individuals can do is decide which type of governance you support. And I don't mean which political party you advocate. Either you believe in a large, centralized entity that controls top-down, with unlimited powers, or you believe in a small, decentralized entity that controls from the bottom up, with limited jurisdiction. This decision is the only one that really matters regarding America's future. One thing is certain: Both Republicans and Democrats are on the side of top-down unlimited powers and jurisdiction.

The U.S. Bill of Rights emphasizes the latter, with the first 10 amendments clearly indicating what the government is limited to, not what it has the authority to bestow. In other words, the first 10 amendments state "shall nots" in enumerating the tasks of government. Its purpose is a singular mandate to protect the "unalienable rights of each individual," rights that already existed before the creation of a government to protect them.