Everyone should take 50 minutes and watch the Charlie Rose interview with Erskine Bowles (former Clinton appointee ) and Alan Simpson (former Republican Senator).

They talk concretely about the US Federal Debt: how big it is (beyond huge), how it impacts us (loss of jobs and international competitiveness), and what we need to do (turn legislators into statesmen).

Bowles says the biggest impediment to bi-partisanship is the lack of trust. Everyone involved has to trust that no one on the other side is going to use info from some meeting to gain a short-sighted political win.

There's another level of trust required: our legislators have to trust us. They have to know that we will support them and not sell them out to any Special Interest Groups that come selling promises and false hope.

We can let our representatives know we will support them; is that enough? Just how can an ordinary citizen help turn their legislator into a stateman?