Let's make 2012 the year we get smart about taxes, and tax less of those things we want more of, like jobs and income, and more of the things we want less of, like health damaging sugars. You can have your cake, just pay for it.

Each side wants the most it can get, but it must consider that the other side may decide to relinquish some of what it wants to get closer to what it estimates the American people want.

Americans must address the question of who will foot the bill for rising medical costs. Even as we complain about mounting healthcare bills, we are reluctant to adopt healthier lifestyle habits to reduce costs.

With all the talk -- and screaming and gun-toting -- that's going on around the health care reform debate, maybe the answer is orbiting our ever-expanding guts.