[This is a point-counterpoint opinion piece with two columnists presenting opposing viewpoints on American politics and local issues. The full text contains detailed arguments from both perspectives but is quite lengthy. Due to space constraints, I will provide a condensed version.]

Ken Rietz (R): Most of the published public opinion surveys show that Americans think our country is OFF TRACK. More than 70% feel that we are headed in the wrong direction. When we look around, however, it does not seem all that bad. The stock market has reached an all time high. Retail sales are increasing. The Federal Deficit is getting smaller. Our families have more gadgets than we could have imagined a few short years ago. So let us examine WHY we are so negative about the future? How about the way our leaders act? Secretary Chertoff said he had a "gut feeling" that we would be attacked this summer. Congress doubled the bounty on Osama Bin Laden. Food from China is contaminated, bottled water is bad for the environment, we are all getting too fat, Polar Bears and Penguins are heading for extinction and Global Warming is mentioned daily. Then there is IRAQ. For those of us who live in the beautiful Piedmont, we have Dominion Power trying to jam down our throats 15 story tall power towers that will forever mar our historic countryside. It seems there is little respite from the constant negative barrage. The best answer for us locals is to write a letter to the State Corporations Commission (SCC) letting them know that we will NOT put up with Dominion Power's greedy 'power grab' of our beautiful land.

Dan Morrow (D): In March of 1933, FDR warned his countrymen against fear and the paralysis and bad judgment it engenders. On July 17, Eugene Delgaudio introduced a resolution to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors directed at the dreaded "illegal immigrants." The normally reliable opponents of Delgaudio apparently in an advanced stage of paralysis were willing to give in not only to fear, but to a professional exploiter of misguided fear and loathing. The Board formally promised to do its best to ratchet up the misery index for people who, admittedly, broke the law in order to go work in a rich country that's literally begging for them to do so. Apparently, not a single voice was raised to offer an alternative approach to the legitimate issues raised by the influx of thousands of people who, by all accounts, earn their daily bread in percentages well above the national averages and pay all the taxes they can without benefit of registration. The folks who risked much to come here are not going "home" no matter how miserable we make them. Making their lives miserable will drive precisely the kinds of behavior that, to this point, is statistically untypical.