Federal policy, as most clearly defined by funding patterns, has been a very significant force in the tremendous surge in physics over the past thirty years. Funding has leveled in recent year and this has caused great stresses between static support and expectations reflecting earlier growth. In the current social and fiscal environment the progress of physics is becoming more and more inseparable from the compromises of politics. Physicists should seriously consider a more active and systematic lobbying role on behalf of our discipline.