And I just think that we're at a point in our economic life here in our state - and - and candidly across the country where increased taxes is just the wrong way to go. The people of our state are not convinced that state government county government local government has done all they can with the money we already give them rather than the money that we have before.

Candidly I believe most corporations actually don't mind big government.

Well first of all I think that a lot of the voters who are voting for the tea party candidates have really good impulses. That is they believe that for years and years and years the people with wealth and power or government power have done well and ordinary people have not. That's true.

My passion for gardening may strike some as selfish or merely an act of resignation in the face of overwhelming problems that beset the world. It is neither. I have found that each garden is just what Voltaire proposed in Candide: a microcosm of a just and beautiful society.

Up against the corporate government voters find themselves asked to choose between look-alike candidates from two parties vying to see who takes the marching orders from their campaign paymasters and their future employers. The money of vested interest nullifies genuine voter choice and trust.

The Republican Party is not in the hands of the Jewish lobby in America as the Democratic Party must look quite often to Jewish money to finance candidates.

The reason that minorities and women don't have a better shot at getting elected to the Senate or to statewide office is because the campaign finance rules are so skewed as to make it very difficult for non-traditional candidates to raise the money necessary to get elected.

I'm not Candide nor Dr Pangloss but we know that faith moves mountains.

It's important to ask candidates about their beliefs in part because politicians frequently exploit religious faith - often with the idea that voters will be more likely to unthinkingly accept certain political positions so long as they arise from religious belief.

The question Americans should ask is not whether a candidate is affiliated with a particular faith but rather whether that candidate's faith makes it more likely he or she will support policies that align with their values.