Nothing is more disappointing than the current state of our national and state politics. It seems the only thing that matters to our elected leaders is how they can gain a better position for re-election or how they can make the opposition party look bad, whether it is by a government shutdown or endless attacks in the media.

There is an excellent quote by President John F. Kennedy, which is appropriate 50 years after his death. He said: “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”

Those are words our current elected officials should live by. It certainly would be a new frontier in this era of partisan politics if our elected officials could start to work together to solve issues rather than fight one another on every issue they face.

Let’s just hope they can be inspired to live by the words of President Kennedy — just as so many other Americans were more than 50 years ago.