In watching the debates progress over the proposed budget in Washington, the attempt to break collective bargaining for state employees in Washington and many other economic harbinger of doom stories, I can't help but feel that something is being missed. I feel that a lot of the fear and angst over the economic woes in our country is presented in a way to artificially divide people into social classes who would be natural allies. Liberals, tea partiers, unemployed, middle class, conservatives, progressives, and so on.

This isn't to say there aren't differences but that those differences are being magnified to distract the people from the fact that we can agree on many, if not most things. We all want to feel stable and secure in our homes, jobs, and country. We know that the way of life that we have known is changing and it is frightening. The United States, the world's only remaining military superpower is having to confront that fact that it is no longer the only economic superpower. But out of that fear of change, we point at each other as the cause, instead of the larger economic forces.

To end this distraction campaign, I'm asking for people to start working together and encouraging one another to make the changes we can agree on. I'm calling them "Put Up or Shut Up" moments. If you want to be taken seriously, it is no longer enough to yell about a group that you don't agree with, but to help people make informed choices that will lead to real change.

So, here is my first "Put Up or Shut Up" suggestion. One of the causes of the financial crisis that we are in was the irresponsible behavior of the banking and lending industries. Instead of just waiting for the government to do something about this, there is one thing each of us can do to make an impact. Join a local credit union. They treat you better, your money stays in the community to help benefit others, and you can often get better rates. Go to http://moveyourmoneyproject.org/ to learn more.