FOUR YEARS AGO I was impressed with presidential candidate Barack Obama’s message of change. I spoke to a newspaper employee about my favorable impression of the change message and was reminded about the extent of his campaign funding by corporate and other special interests. I responded that the election was only the beginning, and that the electorate would need to continue after the election, to pursue needed, reasoned and responsible changes, That will still apply after the upcoming election.

Many of the hoped for and needed changes during the Obama presidency never transpired. And the Republican plan for economic recovery sounds very familiar. Through 2008, when mathematical wizardry never added up.

Many Republicans signed the Grover Norquist Americans for Tax Reform pledge, an anti-tax oath. I thought politicians were elected to represent the people. The Norquist pledge was written to promote the interests of a select, secretive group of elites whose interests are greater power, more economic control and increased wealth. To their credit, some Republicans have refused to be bound by the anti-tax pledge.

As I try to follow the presidential campaign, what I have observed and heard from the major parties candidates plays on psychological insecurities and economic needs of the unemployed, the underemployed, and those who fear they might become unemployed. Contrary to reports that consumers are spending more, and supposedly are feeling more economically secure, there is great unrest in the nation.

I haven’t yet heard a major party politician deal with the true nature of the nation’s economic situation. There is much information available that reveals the nation’s and the world’s limitations and possibilities. A 123-page book, Full Planet, Empty Plates, by Lester R. Brown, deals with many of the world’s limitations and possibilities.

The political candidates in the upcoming election do not inspire confidence. Our nation’s development has encouraged great expectations that have exceeded the limitations imposed by the working classes’ resources and the shrinking resources of our world. A life reorientation to limitations and to possibilities would bring clarity and focus to human needs. Can-do pep rallies for a return to past economic activities should raise the question, Even if it is briefly possible, should we?