By Cernig
The average senator or congressman is wealthy - often extremely so. What clue could they possibly have about the problems ordinary working and middle class Americans have in the current economic crisis? Well, millionaire and senator Bernie Saunders asked his constituents in Vermont to tell him. He received over 600 emails. He writes:
It is one thing to read dry economic statistics which describe the collapse of the American middle class. Since George W. Bush has been in office 5 million Americans have slipped into poverty, 8 million have lost their health insurance and 3 million have lost their pensions. In the last seven years median household income for working-age Americans has declined by $2,500. Our country, for the first time since the Great Depression, now has a zero personal savings rate and, all across the nation, emergency food shelves are being flooded with working families whose inadequate wages prevent them from feeding their families.
It is another thing to understand, in flesh-and-blood terms, what that means in the lives of ordinary Americans. The responses that I received describe the decline of the American middle class from the perspective of those people who are living that decline. They speak about families who, not long ago, thought they were economically secure, but now find themselves sinking into desperation and hopelessness.
These e-mails tell the stories of working families unable to keep their homes warm in the winter; workers worried about whether they�ll be able to fill their gas tank to get to their jobs; and seniors, who spent their entire lives working, now wondering how they�ll survive in old age. They describe the pain and disappointments that parents feel as they are unable to save money for their kids� college education, and the dread of people who live without health insurance.
In order to try and break through the complacency and isolation inside the Washington Beltway, I have read some of these stories on the floor of the Senate. I also assembled some of them in a booklet that I have distributed to every other senator because it is imperative that Congress and the corporate media understand the painful reality facing the middle class today so that we can develop the appropriate public policy to address this crisis.
Ask your senator - hells, ask Obama and McCain - "have you read that booklet yet?" Ask them if they "get it".
I suspect showing the pamphlet to the rank and file of the GOP would result in little more than some semi-coherent ranting about 'bad life choices,' 'personal responsibility,' and 'community college.' The problem is not a lack of information but rather a lack of empathy and a lack of conscience.
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