It starts with voting Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Boehner, Cantor, Graham, McCain, Boxer, and the rest of the big-government clown show that is DC. Then once the two party grip is broken, we elect Libertarians who actually know how to read the Constitution and will protect civil liberties. 

Not that that is realistic because Republican and especially Democratic voters seem to have their heads so far up their ass in regards to hypocrisy between what they preach and what they practice. 

There was a teleconference call from my district's congress woman, and anyone could ask the question about the shut down.  Basically she wanted us to sign up for a petition for a public vote on the matter (and a showdown in congress between parties I think, she did mention it'll be bipartisan to get rid off Tea Party).  I had to got off the phone because of a dinner event, but it's nice of her to hold such event. 

Many people asked questions.  But anyways, I think politicians at DC just wanted to do this, so Fiscal Cliff would actually happen, therefore, completes the self-fulfilling prophecy.  Wonder how many small businesses would be out because of this....

This has been the triumph of the neo-cons where everything is religious based and polarised as "good" or "evil" [as Dubya said, you're either for us or against us] and military response is the way to conduct international relations. It's been a big win for the military-industrial complex you mentioned but a catastrophe for the world - it's an incredibly simplistic, reductionist, stupid, divisive and dangerous way of conducting politics; it's resulted in a far more dangerous world where more people than ever now HATE the US with a passion and is the most effective recruiting agent for new generations of young impressionable minds to hate the US and wage a terrorist war that can never be won because it's being waged internally by individuals driven by collective hate not by any centralised command structure; it makes Dubya's fatuous crap about "winning hearts and minds" seem like a sick joke; and it has stripped away individual rights and freedoms that have been fought for by citizens over centuries and continue to be removed slice by slice until, like the proverbial cucumber, we will be left with nothing but complete control and oversight of everything we do - as you probably know the US puts more people per head of population in prison than any other developed country [nice big win for the US "security" business].

Nine years ago - 2004 - the BBC showed a 3 part series by Adam Curtis, The Power of Nightmares - The Rise of the Politics of Fear. It's an interesting comparison of neo-con beliefs and radical Islam. The modern equivalent of the 20th century struggle between communism and fascism. In the end they both seem to be opposite sides of the same coin - a very bad penny. You won't agree with everything but it's worth catching on the interweb. Not surprisingly it was never shown on US TV.

http://sophistryandillusion.com/videos/Adam-Curtis/The+Power+of+Nightmares+-+part+1.flv.php