Editor:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. With these words, Charles Dickens began his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. It is also with these words that we can begin this new year. With a state of emergency on the east coast due to tremendous snowf all, a budget battle that threatens to continue through the November elections, and American troops once again toting weapons on foreign soil, it is clear that the new year has brought some difficult problems with it. Yet we have much to look forward to, including the opportunity to host the Olympic Games (and the Super Bowl for those of us lucky to live in Arizona), the prospect of a balanced budget in the near future, and the opportunity to elect (or re-elect) the leader of the free world. The person w e elect must have the ability to find new solutions to our old problems, as well as deal with the ones we have yet to create for ourselves.

It seems that we have had the same problems in this country in the last generation, and we have yet to elect someone with the common sense to solve them. How do we balance the budget? Which programs should we cut? Should we raise or lower taxes? If so, wh ose? So we decided to compromise, and look where it got us - taxes were raised and lowered on everyone, but spending continued and the budget was never balanced. Democrats blame 12 years of Republican occupation of the White House. Republicans are sure th at it was the fault of 40 years of Democratic control of congress. Whose fault is it? I say, who cares?

Rather than concentrating on who is to blame for our problems in our society, why don't we just find the person who can fix the problems? Four years ago, many people thought that Ross Perot and his three-party system could save the United States from the grave we are digging for ourselves. "He's a political outsider," they cried. "He cares about the burden we are giving to future generations," it was claimed. People asserted, "He has a plan, and it will work!" So, he proceeded to carry zero states in 19 92 and finish third in that election.

Don't look now, though. Another man is running who can claim the same principles that Ross Perot once did. He wants to simplify the tax code by creating a flat tax, no longer punishing Americans who want to work hard and financially succeed. He wants to g ive the states control of social programs in an attempt to decentralize the government. He wants to trim government spending and eliminate our growing deficit. He wants term limits to make politics a service to one's country, not a career. Like Ross Perot , he is a financial success in the business world and a political outsider. Unlike Ross Perot, he is running in the established two-party system and is seeking a nomination from the Republican Party.

Republicans claimed that they won in a "revolution" in 1994, and only history will determine how true that claim is. However if this man wins the presidency, it truly will be a revolution for common sense, honesty and simplicity in politics. We will have elected a real outsider, whose first political office would be president. We know that career politicians have succeeded in creating massive turmoil in the United States. It's time we gave someone else a chance. How much worse could he do? I refer, of cou rse, to Steve Forbes. With his vision, we can make 1997 start out: It was the best of times, and nothing less ...

Ted Dubasik
accounting, international business