I truly believe Americans are more alike than different; that we can find common ground - which works for everyone; that we can have a genuinely representative government with compassionate leaders. We owe it to ourselves, and more especially to our children and grandchildren, to make this effort.

We face serious challenges in our country today, not as Republicans or Democrats but as Americans. Working together there isn’t a challenge we can not meet. But there are powerful forces who profit when we can’t break our dependence on foreign oil, or achieve affordable health insurance for all Americans, or solve our immigration crisis.

We need representatives in Washington who are there to fix the problems. If they aren’t part of the solution, they are the problem. Congress will always be made up of Democrats and Republicans. We will always have representatives with different opinions, different viewpoints and different perspectives. That is, in itself, a strength. But when a block of inflexible ideologues becomes entrenched, ideologues that care nothing about solutions for all but only about their self-interests, it is time to clean house. Let’s start with Sue.