If one theme can define an election season, 2008 is about change. Of course, change is always a big theme, but this a remarkable year. Record primary turnout, profound dissatisfaction with the administration, the war, the economy, the Bush. The change we need is profound too. A sea change, we hope, toward what we believe good government is about.

Good government manages public resources for the public good, not for private gain.

We want honesty, accountability and transparency in our federal government, a return to the values of average Americans, a repudiation of torture and spying and black ops and “preemptive” war, of corruption, lying by public officials and selling out the public good to campaign donors.

Does Barack Obama represent a true hope of meaningful change? He has done something truly extraordinary. He has financed his campaign through over 1.5 million small donations from “ordinary” Americans who yearn to have our government work for us for a change. He doesn't owe big favors to big donors.

Since the beginning of the Reagan era, we have pursued a policy of coddling the rich at the expense of the other 90% of us, handing over the reins of power to corporate donors. We have ignored our responsibility to our children and grandchildren; To maintain and build the infrastructure of America, to protect the environment, communities and workers. To care for the health of our children, our veterans, our elders, our planet. To invest in the public good, in education, in critical infrastructure.

I will be charitable and say that most Republicans truly believe that by cutting taxes we have been “letting people keep their own money.” But the truth is, we are borrowing a half trillion dollars a year and giving that money away as “tax cuts,” as reckless spending, for a senseless war, with no intention of paying it back but rather, handing in on with interest to our children and grandchildren. We borrow $1 billion a day from China alone, and we give most of it back buying Chinese products. We have made China our banker and our manufacturing sector, and failed to run our country in a businesslike way. So much for America’s “first MBA president.”

In what I believe was a cynical attempt to create a permanent American aristocracy, the Republicans demonized the estate tax as a “death tax”, while creating a “birth tax” (the national debt) that is now over $35,000 for every infant born in America. That infant owes over $325 a month in interest alone. That's the Bush tax increase. $1,000 a month for a family of four.

Think about it: the “credit card Republicans” while talking about cutting taxes, have added $325 a month to your tax burden, every one of you, every one of us, every month, forever, because that doesn't pay down a dime of the debt. It's just the interest.

We are headed down a path of passing on to future generations, to our own children, a terrible legacy:

A mountain of debt and a degraded planet.

But imagine this country changing to a model of responsible and innovative action toward a sustainable future, a beacon of democracy and freedom. A voice of reason and decency and a model of capable leadership and ethical governance.

Let's use our resources to rebuild the American infrastructure, not the Iraqi infrastructure, and for use our resources to free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, rather than fighting wars in the Middle East at immense cost in blood and treasure in an attempt to control a resource that we should be moving away from for many good reasons.

Sure, let's try some of that change. And let's be vigilant every day and do our part to keep our representatives on the right track, on the track of working for us, for America.