By Tom C. Schleck, Guest Column

2008 is a critical year in the United States. The current majority in the U.S. Congress has been a total failure at reducing excess spending and earmarks. We need a new majority, to ensure that excess spending and regulation will be curbed. We need tax cuts for all U.S. citizens and less domestic social spending.

In the presidential contests there are choices. The senators from New York and Illinois are big government, big spending types who would continue the disturbing drift towards a nanny state, a prospect that should alarm all patriotic Americans. The only person talking real change is Ron Paul. Perhaps he should be the nominee of the party of the senators from Illinois and New York who think they should be president.

It was of course President Grover Cleveland, who said, &8220;It&8217;s the duty of the people to support the government, not the government to support the people.&8221; The failure of the senators from New York and Illinois to follow that view is a major reason why they should be defeated. Ron Paul again seemed to come closest to the view of Democratic President Grover Cleveland and the true change the U.S. needs.

The most compelling historical analogies on who should be president is from 1952. Sen. John McCain is a warrior, of mature years, who has had good experience in handling all types of crisis, both national and domestic and is a straight shooter who probably can handle the war on Iraq best as well as trying to cut domestic spending, regulation, allowing more freedom and stimulate the economy with tax cuts. Sen. John McCain seems to have connections to the three great 20th century political leaders. Besides being a war hero, like Dee, he is a senator from Arizona. In 1964 Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona should have been elected president. John McCain did work with the great President Ronald Reagan in the1980s.

A major concern is United States energy policy. We need American oil to go with American ethanol and soy diesel. We need to promote quickly drilling in ANWR. We need to promote quick drilling off the coast of the United States. We need to move quickly to bring more gasoline refineries, nuclear power plants and coal power plants online. Having a greater supply of energy should help drive down gasoline and other energy costs. We need this now to help the poor and all Americans. Do not let excess regulations slow developing quick, inexpensive energy.

In the immigration area we need to have strong plans to deal with illegal aliens. We need a guest worker program that would ensure guest workers have private health insurance before they enter the United States, they stay for only a limited time and 15 percent of any earnings they have will be held as a severance payment till they return to their countries of origin. We need to have people who like the United States building stronger economies in the countries they come from and after their guest-worker time in the United States. Besides health care, a person should post an entrance bond to ensure there is money to return them to their countries of origin in an emergency. Current illegals in the United States should pay a fine for entering illegally and be subject to any terms of a guest-worker program, if there is a need for them to be working in the United States.

The United States has long been in favor of freedom and against all types of slavery. We must have a national right-to-work law to ensure that individuals cannot be forced to join or support private organizations against their will. The current system allows organizations to seize people&8217;s earnings, which is a form of slavery to build their group, which actually might be working against the interests of the worker. All these types of forced fees must be stopped through a strong national right-to-work law that protects American workers. AARP and the American Legion have represented Americans without forced fees; American workers deserve free choice. Twenty-two states have got RTW laws. Fed law needs to liberate all workers.

U.S. citizens should be able to obtain basic health care, they pay for, and it should reduce Medicaid, etc.

Albert Lea resident Tom C. Schleck is a retired employee of Freeborn County Human Services.