We, the people of this nation, will soon be hearing how inept and less-than-truthful the members of the opposing party are, have been, and will be. We are soon to hear that we are being and have been lied to, that our best interests are not and have not been the focus of attention. We are going to hear promises that, even as they are uttered, we will deep-down expect to be broken.

We expect this to the degree we must make jokes about the alleged, and oft-times, factual, deceits and misrepresentations of politicians and their parties. We make jokes and laugh at the jokes we make in an attempt, possibly, to alleviate our own sense of helplessness in preventing anything less than 100 percent integrity from our politicians.

Our acceptance of politicians' behaviors has been going on, one would suspect, since the very first person in history began behaving as a politician. How often do we hear people speak about politicians in a negative fashion? Aren't the jokes based on negative aspects of politicians?

The many negative connotations which come to mind when thinking about the concept, Politician, cannot all have been inaccurately developed. It would be most difficult to believe we have all misintepreted actions and statements of politicians we have seen and heard during our lifetimes, that we have mistakenly thought of politicians as lacking in integrity.

Maybe it is time that we start looking at the behaviors of politicians with a different perspective. Maybe we should quit making jokes and get deadly serious about any lack of integrity by a politician.

Why a different perspective? Let's suppose that you defraud many, many Americans out of monies totaling $500,000 just so that you can live comfortably for a few years (and maybe for the rest of your life should the defrauding lead to additional income.) The risk is, if you get caught and prosecuted, you could be imprisoned for many years and, regardless, would always be considered a dastardly fellow.

How is the above situation any different from a politician that lies and falsely presents himself to his constituency in order to get elected to or stay in office?

Both are conning the American public for financial gain and power. If the politician continues to get elected to higher and higher offices after falsely presenting himself and his beliefs (or, lied about others who have opposed him) to the public, then his profits through the years will most likely exceed the above conman's take.

What if such a politician is in Congress for many years and is eventually elected to the presidency, what's his take then?

Now, we're talking about millions of dollars of profit through the years, profit that, in the final analysis, is based on a very skillful conning of the public. That's you, me, all of us being conned out of money and, possibly more important, legislation that might have been more to the majority's best interests had another individual been in office.

Maybe it's time to assure that laws are enforced with regards to politicians. IF a politician clearly misrepresented himself to the public, conned the public, in order to be elected to or stay in office, then he should be treated as any conman would be treated. He should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and, if convicted of fraud, placed in the regular prison system, not the `country-club' system.

Politicians should not be held as being above the law. Regardless of their position or political power, politicians are still citizens of this country in which, above all else, all people are to be treated equally.

However, as most will recall, the Congressional Bad-Check situation of a few years ago pretty well proved that politicians are not held legally accountable. Can you imagine what would have happened to any other citizen who had written as many thousands of dollars of bad checks as our elite congressmen did?

We have one presidential administration left before we begin a new century. Maybe it's time to begin doing everything possible in guaranteeing that the truth prevails in politics so that the new century will also be a new beginning. Why not hold every politician legally accountable for every statement he makes?

If all statements made by the politician are the truth and reflect the good of the many he represents, then he wouldn't have a problem. But, if any statements are found to be false or misleading and led to the politician getting elected to or retained in office, then he should be prosecuted for attempted fraud or fraud. At the very least, he should be immediately removed from office and made ineligible for any future political activities.

What do you think, Ladies and Gentlemen? Is it possible for truth and integrity to prevail or must the system stay as it is?