Some of you may have received this already but I wanted to make sure that everyone who is interested and those who might not be familiar with the issue get a chance to sign up.

Quote from Dave Walker
President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

This Sunday, we'll be publishing a letter across two full pages in the New York Times calling upon the presidential nominees to move beyond the "denial" stage, recognize that America has a $53 trillion problem, and start taking steps to solve it. This letter will be signed by a bipartisan group of some of the country's most prominent leaders in finance and fiscal policy-making, and by representatives of young people's organizations around the country. You can add YOUR name by visiting www.PGPF.org today. Please help us make this letter one our next President can't ignore.

Not familiar with the issue?
I urge you to take about 5 minutes to read some thoughts and watch a quick video on how it all started and just how big the challenge actually is:

• Why You Should Care About The National Debt

Still interested? Motivated? Think there is nothing you can do to help fix the problem? Think again.

• 4 Things You Can Do To Fix The National Debt

I have probably watched way more of the Democrat and Republican National Conventions than anyone one sitting at home should, but I think it has helped to gain a smidgen of better perspective on what lies beneath all the fluff. After the sulfur smell of the fireworks fade and after the last patriotic balloon is popped and swept into the janitors garbage cart, what remains?

Regardless of your party affiliation or which direction you lean, it seems to me, and this could be because this is my first big election that I am closely following, that personal responsibility and individual action has taken a few steps towards center stage.

Barack Obama:

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that's the essence of America's promise.

John McCain:

If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you're disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. Enlist in our Armed Forces. Become a teacher. Enter the ministry. Run for public office. Feed a hungry child. Teach an illiterate adult to read. Comfort the afflicted. Defend the rights of the oppressed. Our country will be the better, and you will be the happier. Because nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself.

Fight for what's right for our country.

Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children's future.

Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.

Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

We will have the footage, we will have the sound bites and printed articles...wouldn't it be interesting if this time we remember the hype, the promises, the spin.....but instead of using it to fuel the next call for change four or eight years from now, we use it to motivate change in our own lives.

I was promised a higher paying job. What have I done to increase my income?

I was promised government health care or more affordable health care.
What have I done to improve my family's health and ensure that I am financially protected from unforeseen medical expenses?

I was promised lower energy costs and a cleaner environment. What have I done to reduce the energy my family consumes and our impact on the environment?

I was promised that Washington would be fixed. What leadership role have I taken to better my community, my state, my country?

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