“A man can hold land if he can just eat and pay taxes; he can do that.  Yes, he can do that until his crops fail one day and he has to borrow money from the bank.  But – you see, a bank or a company can’t do that, because those creatures don’t breathe air, don’t eat side meat.  They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money.  If they don’t get it, they die the way you die without air, without side meat.  It is a sad thing but it is so.  It is just so,” John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath.

                I recently sat down with this book and reread a few lines.  It is one of my favorite works of literature with a message of the working poor who lost virtually everything during the Great Depression. 

                I’ve been thinking more about this book recently, being reminded of it by following the current economic struggles faced by our nation.  I use the word nation rather loosely since a nation consists of people, but not just any people.  Each of us has our own circle of acquaintances and family that we care greatly for. We are surrounded by others who have their own circle.  All of these circles put together are what makes up our nation, and our nation is personal because our circle of family and friends is personal.

                I write this column with a heavy heart, wondering about the direction of our nation, which is currently experiencing a serious economic downturn.  Stories of families losing their jobs and homes are a tragic reality across this country.

                Like most Americans, I don’t believe our government truly hears our pleas for action to be taken.  Washington has become a virtual foreign land when compared to the average person.  I say these things, because I don’t believe many in our government understand what it is to live from paycheck to paycheck.  Neither do I believe they have sat at a table with a stack of bills and a checkbook wondering what bill could be mailed late to leave money for groceries or medicine. 

                Energy costs are at the highest rates ever, virtually crippling the budgets of the working class.  These costs are also reflected in the increased cost of food and other items of necessity, further emptying the bank accounts of common folk.

                It is the common folk who have suffered the most from a trade agreement known as NAFTA.  While it helped increase corporate profits and line the pockets of the rich, it put many workers on the streets.

                Today in Washington, many politicians also complain about what NAFTA has done to this nation, but none of them have taken any action to withdraw from the agreement or do anything to correct that mistake.  And while they delay, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. 

                Our tax dollars are taken and given to large corporations as subsides as they move our jobs off shore.  Just as some of the land companies in Steinbeck’s book, jobs that remain are fewer than the workers to fill them which have driven down the wages paid.

                I believe that change will come, not with the election of a new president or members of congress, but when average Americans decide they’ve had enough.  There is a great need for the people of this nation to remind the government who they work for.  Through phone calls, letters, emails, protests or even a messenger pigeon, we desperately need to tell politicians just how disappointed we are in their performance. 

                Throughout history, it is the average individuals who must pull together to clean up the mess left by their governments failures.  And I do not believe it will be any different within our own time.