Does a family have to be faced with unemployment and homelessness

[Snoggera]

before they get it? Is that why those who are obviously employed, and present the "news" to all, don't get it?

Does it take a disaster the size of the Depression to get a response from the Great Middle Class?

What does it take to wake people up and educate them?

I am tired of being on the defensive. I refuse to enter the next 4 months in that mode.

I hope, and from what I saw today they will, Kerry-Edwards fight and don't let up for a minute.

If people, after these years of liars and thieves, don't listen, I give up.

[2Design]

1. my family is like that...they have money and homes and jobs..

they don't get it...

[Snoggera]

2. Maybe they will between now and November

This is the fight of our lifetimes. I truly believe that.

[BattyDem]

3. I heard this on AAR a couple of months ago ...

"People are only conservative until it affects them personally."

That's the problem ... nobody cares until it's their ass that gets kicked.

[Skittles]

4. that is the truth

deep at the core of conservatism is pure, absolute greed and selfishness. Like Nancy harping on about stem-cell research, they only care when it affects THEM.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

5. yep, even then they dont get it.

Then they could turn into real haters.

Look at the Nazis. Unemployment and homelessness, and the folks went fascist.

[Bronco69]

6. Lila from F911 is another example.

She was against the anti war protestors until her son was killed in Iraq.

[midwayer]

7. US Census Income figures

Here are some statistics...not sure I'm smart enough to break them down to discuss, but just throwing them out there in case anyone else has any thoughts.
Also at this site is the median income levels state by state which look not to have been updated since 2000 or so

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html

http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/threshld/thresh03.html

According to my calculation the minimum wage level in this country needs to be increased to at least 6.75 just for a family of four to break even after their monthly bills.

This based on two parents working and includes rent or mortgage, 2 car payments, utilities, groceries, clothes, etc.

With the Government allowed influx of Mexicans living two families per household (illegal but rampant, I see it first hand) father working landscaping and mother at burger king I think our Congressmen and women living in there luxury condo's could afford to buck it up a little instead of continuing to practice their hypocrisy voteing themselves their fat pay raises, pensions and health care plans. They owe this to our service industry.

God forbid these families experience a disaster. One paycheck away from being on the streets.

I am a family of four on lower middle class wages and damn near in the same boat.

The American Dream can sometimes just be too difficult to achieve for many, especially when living in a system that is fraught with predatory tactics designed to exploit.

[Kanary]

8. That's the difference between the US and other countries

IN other countries, the good of the WHOLE is important to all. Just ask the Canadians who just fought back an effort to "privatize" their health care.

What is it about this country that we are so selfish?

Then, we pat ourselves on the back for how well we "come together" in times of crisis. CRAP! It's only when something like September 11 happens, and people get scared, then they'll help each other. But, let an individual have problems, and it's "Stop feeling sorry for yourself, and pull yourself up by your bootstraps."

Yes, of course, I know there are exceptions. But, by and large, this is how it is in The US of A. Selfish.

Kanary

[Deja Q]

9. There are people unemployed who still think * is looking out for their

livelihood. (in terms of jobs and economy, the hamfisted (if not utterly bogus) war on terror hadn't even been mentioned...)

Sad. Very sad.

[Senior citizen]

10. Corporations have been doing to Americans

the same thing they've done to Native Americans and indigenous peoples everywhere. Once people are displaced from their land, they are dependant upon corporations for their livelihood. And, for many, particularly if they are given privileges and see the despair of those not so lucky, it becomes Stockholm syndrome--they begin to love the corporations that hold them hostage.

What happened to the small farm, the well-paying factory job, the mom-and-pop businesses? What happened to all those fat retirement plans?

Some of the best jobs around today are in forcing others out of jobs, or imprisoning those who can't get jobs but still try to survive.

But the middle class, the bulwark of democracy, has shrunk considerably. And many of those remaining are frightened.

The God of War has slain the Goddess of Peace, and Capitalism has won out over Communism. But you cannot kill immortals, and you cannot kill kindness and compassion. We humans as a species may perish, but goodness and decency will not--these are transcendent concepts, and will exist whether or not we do. Those in power in these dark days do not worship a Creator, no matter how much they may pretend to, they worship a Destructor. And destruction will always be secondary--it cannot exist without there first having been something created for it to destroy. It is not a first cause, and therefore cannot be an end.