One need only look to the daily news to see that the public is ready for a change. Not “change you can believe in,” or some other semi-catchy slogan. Americans want real change.

The Democrats have had control of the House and Senate since 2006, and now enjoy a super-majority in both chambers. However, they struggle to convince the American people that the change we need is bigger government, more spending, and more government control over our daily lives.

Obama currently sits at a 44% approval rating in the most recent Rasmussen poll, the lowest of any previous president at this point in his presidency since the poll has been conducted. What this tells us is that Americans are beginning to understand that government programs are not free, and in order to pass massive “progressive” legislation, it will require the government intruding upon once sacred ground like doctor-patient relationships.

Americans are also beginning to understand the impact that massive spending has on our economy and deficit, and many have come to believe that it’s slightly hypocritical to keep adding more to the federal budgets as the private sector continues to bleed jobs.

The Democrats have been spending billions upon billions on social policies and war since Woodrow Wilson and FDR. There’s little chance it will stop anytime soon.

As the Obama administration and the Democrats continue to crank out unpopular legislation, it seems as if the Republicans are the victors. People are flocking to the Republican Party in massive numbers, looking for a glimmer of fiscal sanity. However, since most people are shortsighted, it’s important for us to look at the fiscal and domestic scoreboard for Republicans over the years.

President Bush is the one that passed the “unpopular” TARP bill that cost taxpayers billions of dollars. His reasoning was that we must abandon the free market to save the free market. That’s the same thing as telling your spouse that you are going to save your money by spending it. It’s illogical.

His father, George H.W. Bush, infamously raised taxes after promising that he would not, and involved the U.S. in a foreign war, adding billions to the deficit. Ronald Reagan, though arguably better than the aforementioned Republicans, popularized deficit spending as a way to grow the economy. He raised the federal deficit from $900 billion to $2.8 trillion during his presidency. He also failed to deregulate governmental regulations, abolish unnecessary government entities, and he created more barriers to trade than many of his predecessors.

No need to even talk about the failures of Nixon (though he did get us out of Vietnam).

What this shows us is that Republican or Democrat; you can expect more of the same. When one is in power, they spend exuberantly while the opposing party complains about spending. Do you remember when Democrats were up in arms over the spending for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? Where are those cries for fiscal sanity now?

The answer, we need a new party or a new kind of politician. Libertarians offer that alternative. The Libertarian Party, because its principles and values are based on a strict philosophy of non-aggression and free markets, is the only party in the U.S. that offers true liberty, fiscal responsibility by government and an economic climate that allows the markets to maximize opportunity for everyone.

There are definitely Libertarians in other parties as well. Ron Paul, 2008 Republican Presidential candidate, ran for President as a Libertarian as 1988. Dr. Paul still adheres strictly to libertarian philosophical and economic ideas. His son, Rand Paul, is also a libertarian Republican and is currently running for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky.

Only by waking up to the irreversible problems with both of our major parties, and by electing non-establishment politicians, will the United States be able to pull out of our downward economic spiral and return to the values of our founders.