Jack
John
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
September 2009
February 2009
July 2008
May 2008
April 2008
June 2007
February 2007
December 2006
September 2006
August 2006
June 2006
April 2006
March 2006
January 2006
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
Baptism of Edward Douglas Lockton
Jesus heals Simon's mother in law and others
Story of a Veteran
Trinity Sunday Reflections
Gordon Buck Funeral Homily
Military Homecoming. University of San Diego
Christian Mission: Do We Really Understand It?
VA Funding, an Ongoing Disgrace
« We really don't care | Main | Who Pays the Price? »
Gardening is not something I enjoy. Having just returned from the back yard helping my wife in the garden which she loves, I recalled a time when I considered gardening a patriotic duty and did it willingly. I was only a child, but I did my part for the war effort by working in our "victory garden." I helped defeat the Axis powers by tending our tomatores, carrots and radishes. Even kids were expected to contribute to the great cause and we did so willingly. After the war, with my father and other veterans in civilian life again, we all helped to put in place a period of prosperity in which all shared. We made good schools better, we built highways systems, we created social systems that worked for everyone. As a young adult, I felt part of the civil rights movement and the war on poverty. I remember more than 30 years of hope and optimism as we Americans built a better life together. We knew we could do it and we did. But no longer!
Paul Krugman reminds us how today we are going in the other direction and losing our country. We have created a nation which seems to be a mirror opposite of the one I inhabited in my youth. Examples abound: the income and wealth gap between those who work and those who live on investments or inheritance has widened to an immense gulf.
As Krugman points out, the American middle class didn't happen by accident. It was put in place by design and by a people who really believed they were in it together and wanted a just society in which all could share. Taxation, incentives, risk sharing have all been reversed. This can all be turned around, of course, but only by a people who have the will to do it. Are we still that people?
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)