The 2012 Presidential candidates are now decided. Most of those running for Congress have been nominated. Our nation, nay, our world is at a critical juncture in civilization's history. The campaigns, however, continue to be negative, trading insults based on falsehoods, half-truths and innuendo. Purple sees this approach as an offense to the American voter, who desperately needs to understand and consider unbiased factual information and policy options.

Perhaps you have read Citizens of London, a marvelous recent book describing the 1936-1945 period, as Hitler gobbled up neighboring countries while Britain slept, unprepared for the war that engulfed them in 1939-40. And as England suffered during the Blitz of 1940, America stood apart, controlled by isolationist sentiments that claimed "it can't happen here - it's not our problem." So America was also unprepared when the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.

Purple was young in those days, but old enough to question the isolationists and to recognize that his generation would soon have to pay the price of helping to save the world as we knew it. Of his two best friends, one was killed in combat a month before VE Day, and the other was shot down over Germany and spent 17 months in a prison camp.

Reading Citizens of London Purple finds alarming parallels with today. We also face dangerous threats to our civilization; and we, too, are failing to address them. You know the menu:

• Fiscal deficits and debt, national and international
• Widespread Unemployment
• Climate Disruption
• Unprecedented Demographic Changes
• Civil Wars in the Middle East and Africa
• Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
• Political Power Based on Money

The list goes on, and our political system is ignoring it, telling us not to worry, or finding blame, rather than analyzing the true causes and proposing solutions. We should demand that both parties abandon attack ads and propose constructive solutions to the America's and the world's illnesses.

Obviously such solutions will entail costs – higher taxes, less generous entitlements, changes in lifestyles among them. The profligate past requires a more Spartan future.

We will shortly be celebrating the 236th anniversary of American Independence. That July 4th, 1776, ushered in seven years of war, with sacrifices such as the winter at Valley Forge facing those Americans. But their courage and sacrifices created a nation that became the best hope of the world. Now we of today must maintain that promise.

It is high time that we asked those who would govern our Country to outline their plans for its future. In coming pre-election columns Purple will offer some suggestions. Not all will be pleasant, but he has no desire to have his grandchildren experience what his generation did in 1941 because the politicians then, and those that elected them, avoided facing up to the dangers ahead.