America Doesn't Know

In this artilcle in Salon, an Iraqi asks a journalist, "Why does America hate poor people so much?"

America doesn't know it hates poor people. After so many years -- since Reagan really -- of slurs against liberal government and open hatred for goverment itself, America has lost its memory. We forget why we wanted our own goverment in the first place. We forget the power of government to generally make the lives of common people better; what our Founders called the general welfare has lost its standing.

We are reverting, losing our democracy. Aristocracy has re-emerged. Sons and daughters of the powerful get the good jobs, the coveted positions. Hangers-on (Wolfowitz) and jesters (Rice) get the key appointments.

The government trough feeds not the common welfare but the connected few who can get their snouts in.

It translates to contempt for poor people, or for anyone who can't afford to have or be anything and everything. You always hate the one you are guilty of neglecting, even if it is yourself.

So why does America hate poor people? Because they are the testimony to our failure.