What about you?

Astounding. And it's immoral. Obscene. The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. And the chief executive officers of the largest American companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980, but 531 times as much in 2001.

Yes, my fellow Americans, it's about as immoral and obscene as life can get. But that's the nature of our capitalist system. The rich get richer. The poor get poorer. And what are we gonna do about it? Well, for beginners, we'll put the party of the rich in power. The Republicans. They want to give the richest Americans, the top 2 percent, continued tax breaks. To the tune of $700 billion. Believe me, it's gonna happen as we middle class and poor sit on our hands. At a time when more than 40 million of us are living in poverty. When at least 15 million of us are jobless.

Yes, it's pitiful, pitiful, pitiful. And we Americans that have a little bit of money and jobs look the other way. We ignore the plight of the poor and the jobless. We actually vote to put the Republicans and big business in charge. Because they are capitalists. Our masters. We remain subservient and compliant. And stupid. And really, immoral. Just as immoral as we were when we closed our eyes to racial discrimination. Yes, in my lifetime. I lived in communities in which there were separate schools. For whites. And blacks. Separate restaurants. Separate swimmimg beaches. Even separate drinking fountains. I knew it was wrong. And I did something about it. I protested. I joined the NAACP. I worked for change when there was much resistance. And my gawd, I'm gonna keep working for change. Until the gawd-damn rich get their cumuppance. I know the difference between right and wrong. What about you? --Jim Broede