U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader John Boehner this week referred to the original proposal for the bailout of the economy as a “crap sandwich.”

Whether you love it or hate it or even have the more nuanced position of hating it but being too scared for your family’s economic future not to want it, it is a “crap sandwich.”

It has mugged American taxpayers in broad daylight. Decades of government folly led to it. The private sector machinations that induced at least some of the folly and then exploited the folly are equally despicable, and, in our view, there just can’t be enough perp walks to take care of all who have criminally or negligently contributed to the problem.

We well understand why most politicians are saying that we must solve the crisis now and assess blame later, sometime after they are returned to their positions of power when the blame game can be exploited in pursuit of the next, inevitable cycle of seeking return to their positions of power (helped, of course, by the expected return vigorish on the taxpayer largesse to be dispensed).

The overwhelming majority of we the people are not to blame for the specifics of the current disaster, that may or may not be averted, but will come at gigantic cost. We are to blame generally for electing people who, instead of representing our interests, are representing their own first and ours only tangentially, if at all.

That is very difficult to say to those who are working several jobs, trying to raise and educate their children and just live honorable, decent lives, who have little choice but just to vote and trust those they vote for to do the right thing. But when “crap sandwiches” are the only meals being offered, then voting is simply no longer enough.

Politics is currently dominated by the theory that those who lie the best and loudest and longest win. And that is the real “crap sandwich” that is being fed to the American people on all sides, by all sides. Trust? How can you trust when you can’t possibly verify, and you trust the media that are supposed to be helping you verify no more than you trust the original liars.

There is a real, overarching battle between the forces of liberalism and conservatism, both legitimate political philosophies, both shamelessly being twisted beyond recognition in the exploitation of tactical political advantage, not the problem solving to which pure liberalism and pure conservatism offer directional choices to a divided nation.

We are conservative (although hopefully not nearly so arrogant as to believe we are always right). So are a large plurality of the American people, however they define their individual conservatism. Among the most fundamental principles of conservatism are individual responsibility and accountability.

We have one month to go before an important election, for the Presidency, for the entire House of Representatives, for one-third of the Senate, for a host of local and state positions. If, for just that month, rank-and-file liberal and conservative voters could reduce bashing the other side and start demanding responsibility and accountability from their own candidates, then it could be a start, just a start, for both sides having to eat a lot fewer “crap sandwiches.”