Middle class blues

guest commentary by Jack Moseley, award-winning columnist and former editor of the Southwest Times Record

Last year, I warned of the dangers of lobbyists controlling our government. Today, I want to say that was bad enough, but things are going to get much worse in this country.

In a nutshell, the working men and women of this nation have been forsaken. Fewer and fewer of the institutions of our society give a damn about those who form the backbone of these United States and shape its economy.

Now, without regard to merits or demerits, our U. S. Supreme Court has declared there can be no limits to lobbyists buying the votes of our elected leaders for special and often selfish interests. That alone will make it more and more difficult for already apathetic and frequently uninformed voters to understand why they vote for the people for whom they cast ballots on election day.

The lobbyists for special interests in this country can and will spend more than ever before to twist and distort the truth on all sides to confuse and mislead vulnerable voters. The ultimate losers will be the working men and women from whom all that money comes.

Government at all levels — less so at city and state levels — indeed has forgotten the working Joes and Janes who make just about everything work with their minds and muscles.

If you don’t agree, consider this: Major league sports have forgotten the working folks. Priced at major league ticket lately? Probably not. You couldn’t afford it anyway.

Bigtime churches seem to increasingly be as concerned with — if not moreso — the almighty dollar instead of the Almighty. Is it any wonder when you hear this: “I’d like to go and worship, but I feel so guilty that I don’t have anything to put in the plate.”

And what about health care, perhaps the biggest reason for personal bankruptcies in this country? It’s enough to make you think addressing the afflictions of humankind come somewhere after paying the doctors. Still, a lot of my friends say, “We really don’t need health reform.” Sure, and 46 million of our neighbors can just continue to go uninsured and take their chances. There’s always bankruptcy or the cemetery.

And let us not forget that more and more of our young people are being forced to enter the work force undereducated because public schools and America’s colleges have forgotten their working moms and dads. Who cares that million have lost their jobs and things are tight for more and more working families? Raise tuition anyway? But don’t tell me our educational system has concerns for working people! Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of bright  young men and women are being forced to drop out because they cannot afford to costs of college tuition and related expenses.

When I went to college, I worked my way and had what my mother and father could afford to help me. I graduated without debt. And I took as many as 26 credit hours in a single semester, not the 12 that are so common today.

Big banks and the credit card companies they promote deserve their rightful positions of shame on this list. They too have forgotten the working men and women who grease their gears with hard-earned dollars.

Simply put, we still are in a heap of trouble in this country, and I don’t see it getting better anytime soon, which brings me to the point of this commentary.

We have dodged one bullet successfully. Our entire economic system nearly failed. Our entire system of institutions was almost destroyed, along with the providers of jobs for both large and small employers. If we do not change our ways, something far worse, something we dare not think about, could happen suddenly.

Consider this: Just weeks before the collapse of the Soviet Union, very few in Russia and the nations she controlled would have even dreamed that the end of their way of life and government was so near.

Lest we forget, it could happen to us as well. And just as quickly. Dear God, I pray I’m wrong.

Life, luck and -30-.