Will the middle class embrace the poor?

[Ron Green]

It appears that the enormous calamity following the storm has exposed the truth that a sizable underclass still exists, uncomfortably close to the surface but nevertheless ignorable by the middle class until something like this happens. As the victims of the flood (and of the governments' weak response) disperse throughout the country and gain media face time, the big question, I think, is this: Will the shrinking but still huge and all-important middle class start to understand that the promise of our nation's founding is still unrealized, and that anyone making more than 30,000 dollars a year will have to pay higher taxes and make some "lifestyle" changes if such a promise is ever to be kept? Not only that, but will people who grew up thinking that comfort and convenience are the purpose of life be able to shake off that notion in favor of the sacrifice of their own cultural armor as they embrace a group of people very different from themselves?

If the corporate media have anything to do with it, the vast divide will remain.

[Burma Jones]

1. The Middle Class are quickly becoming the poor.......

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Ya beat me to it. I am "poor"; I am college educated and am

middle class in mindset, but not in material possessions.

However, I got everything compared to folks in the Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan.. you name it.

I am blessed.

------------------------------------------------------
Save the Gulf:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

Then save the nation!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[Ron Green]

5. Right. But the balancing act for the RW and the corporate media is to

keep enough people believing they deserve more than do the poor black folks caught in the flood. As long as they still have hopes for their lakeside cabin or second SUV, they will vote for themselves and against the needs of the poor.

[ret5hd]

2. you have described the JOB of the corporate media...

their reason for being, the essence of their existance. Maintaining that divide is Job1. Nothing else matters, really.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. You mean the dwindling middle class? nt