Does Any of This Surprise You?

Yesterday as I was flying home from a great vacation in sunny California I was reading an article in Mother Jones magazine.  I just happened to pick up a copy at the airport and am I ever glad that I did.  It reaffirmed what I have thought all along.  I would recommend that you get a copy of the March/April issue as it has several very good articles in it.
In the article "Plutocracy Now" author Kevin Drum points out two things that we all need to be aware of.  The first is the fact income inequality has grown since the mid 70's.  He says, "the bulk of our growing inequality has been a product of skyrocketing incomes among the richest 1 percent and even more dramatically-among the top 0.1 percent."
The second things is that American politicians don't care about the voters who have moderate incomes.  In a study by a Princeton political scientist done in the early 90's he found that US Senators respond more to high income voters than to anyone else.  He also found that Republican senators do not respond at all to those voters with modest incomes.  He also found that Democratic senators don't respond to voters with mosdest incomes either.
The author draws the conclusion that if neither party cares about the desires of the middle class and poor, and they have put in place policies that favor the wealthy.  This has not only taken money out of the pockets of the middle class but that has deeply affected the economy.  It has also put power into the hands of a few and that does not benefit most of us at all.
Mr. Drum connects this to the declining strength of the unions and the Democratic party.  As unions have lost their political power and funding the Democrats have turned to Big Business for funding.  This is one reason that they don't care about those of us with modest incomes.  This is a long article with many charts and graphs and a wealth of information.  I recommend it to all of you. Here is the link to the article http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-labor-union-decline
My own take on this article is that it verifies what I already suspected.  It make me angry but I also know that those of us who care must keep up the pressure on our Congress people.  It may seem discouraging but we need to make our voices heard by supporting folks like Russ Feingold and his new organization, Progressives United, http://www.progressivesunited.com and moveon.org.  These groups allow many voices to be heard through a group that is organized and has more political clout.  Other voices to support are those of Anthony Weiner, a congressman from New York and Senator Bernie Sanders an independent from Vermont.  Both of these men speak up for the common person and I respect them for their courage and their willingness to speak out and to stand by their beliefs.
As you can tell this article made a big impression on me and I hope that many of you will read it and keep the faith that eventually we can change things.