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back means getting back to the constitutional principles upon which the nation was founded: individual liberty and freedom from too much government control.
• Levin doesn't blame Obama alone for a national debt now approaching $16 trillion. It's the reason this libertarian-leaning Republican didn't vote for George W. Bush in 2004, and the same reason he isn't 100 percent sure Romney is the guy who might somehow turn things around.
• "It's taken 100 years to get to the point where we're at right now," says Levin, 44, a drummer who runs a recording studio out of his home in Pembroke Pines. "There's plenty of blame to go around. My biggest concern is that if Obama wins we may not be able to recover back to the way I think it should be."
• He looks around at the foreclosures in his neighborhood, thinks of the many federal programs implemented to help those homeowners and can't help but feel that the government came to the rescue of those who bit off more than they could chew.

He cringes when his 10-year-old son brings home an award simply for "participating" at school.
• "We've really become an entitlement society," he says. "People think they deserve something just because they exist. ... It doesn't mean the quote unquote 'Republicans' are the answer. The answer is ourselves. To me, that's the bottom line."
• Last week, Romney got his chance to present America with his plan for the future as Republicans gathered for their national convention. "The president has disappointed America because he hasn't led America in the right direction," he said in his acceptance speech, calling for a "better future" but offering few specifics.
• This week, at the Democratic convention, it's Obama's turn. And then, the fall campaign begins in earnest.
• Through it all, Americans will be watching -- the few who remain undecided but also the many who already know which way they lean -- to find out which man might best mirror their own very distinct visions for America and, more so, can bring them to fruition.
•

• LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting an earthquake early Monday in the greater Los Angeles area.
• The magnitude-3.3 quake was centered in Beverly Hills at 3:26 a.m.
• There are no immediate reports of damage.

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