Returning to the Village

The United States was not founded on the ideal of each man for himself. Our nation was founded on the ideal that united we stand and divided we fall. Over the decades we have proven that we are at our best when we work for the greater good than for individual interests. When we look out for each other we fulfill the vision laid out by our founders.

There are those who don't feel that we need to look out for each other. They feel that we should make it a crime to carry cash on you if you are receiving welfare, carry a scarlet letter in your wallet if you are on food stamps and that your family shouldn't have heat in the winter because you are poor. They circumvent laws to remove collective bargaining for public employees. They refuse funding for popular public works projects in the name of ideology.

Those same people are dividing us. Pitting private sector employees against public employees. Pitting the employed against the unemployed. Pitting religious against non-religious. Pitting straights against gays. It’s divide and conquer at its finest.

This is not what our founding fathers wanted. They wanted us to work together and to take care of each other. I think they would have been very proud of us for creating Social Security and then expanding it. I think they would have been wowed that we created Medicare and Medicaid.

They would be ashamed that we are defunding NPR, the NEA and Head Start. They would be ashamed that conservative governors are doing all they can to destroy public education. They would be ashamed of conservatives around this nation giving massive tax breaks to corporations while eliminating Medicaid.

It is past time that we live up to the ideals of the founders of this great nation. It is time to remember that it does take a village.