Which Will We Choose -- Wall Street vs. Main Street -- in the Fight to Fix the Home Ownership/Mortgage Lending Crisis?

It was in the 1980's that many of us who lived on farms in rural communities either lost our land or saw our friends lose theirs. I remember it well because it was then that I moved away from the farm that I loved.

Yesterday, as I watched presidential candidate John McCain speak about his solution for home owners affected by the mortgage lending crisis, it all came back -- an echo of the past about the haunting emotional pain that we felt all across rural America, losing the land we loved, moving away, wondering if we'd ever be financially secure again. I remembered the increase in the divorce rate, the child custody battles, as well as how some turned to increased drug and alcohol abuse as homes and farms were lost.

I asked myself, "Is the mortgage crisis bringing on the same kinds of anxiety and heartbreak that the Farm Crisis did in the 1980's?" And I almost hate to admit it but yes, it seems so as I thought back -- George H. W. Bush was president at the end of this ugly period; he tried to cure our ailing economy by urging us all to go out and buy a couple of pairs of new socks. What I can't remember ... was that before or after he discovered that grocery stores had machines in them (glory be!) that could actually read the price labels. I mean Who Knew?

But now, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We're on the verge of ending another failed Presidency and hopefully, voters will make a wiser choice for President this year, than we did either time we chose a Bush for president.

That choice -- who to vote for President -- is one that eventually we will need to add to our growing list of speeches and program proposals that matter, or don't ... asking ourselves: Are we for or against?

Yesterday -- one year after the home ownership crisis began, we listened carefully as McCain spoke about our fragile middle class economy and what he thought was most important about responding to the crisis. I wondered, "Is he going to choose Wall Street or Main Street?"

McCain emphasized, "A sustained period of rising home prices made many home lenders complacent, giving them a false sense of security and causing them to lower their lending standards ... Lenders ended up violating the basic rule of banking: don't lend people money who can't pay it back."

True. Some people may have purchased homes they couldn't afford and true, we shouldn't "lend people money who can't pay it back" but many of the people who bought homes purchased in good faith. They paid their loans on time.

We have to ask? How is it that McCain blames the people who bought the houses, rather than the predatory lending system that allowed some mortgage brokers to go for the big bucks? 'Looking for excuses to take houses back, they now rush to take the homes back, later to resell and claim additional profit.

Why -- if lenders made mistakes as McCain said, would he want to ease the regulations on lenders?

Why -- didn't McCain offer policies that would aid the families who are hurt by lender mistakes?

Why -- would McCain reward the lenders for their mistakes? ... which he did.

What would have made sense -- common sense -- would have been to propose using the FHA home loan program, offering counseling for the families, loan restructuring and tax breaks -- all ways that offer immediate help to the families, while also penalizing the lenders who over-stepped. Some of these solutions are already being offered in Congress. See Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and the two other presidential candidates -- Obama and Clinton.