Whether you are of a religious persuasion or not, Easter always offers a marking point in the spring time. Whether it is late or early, Easter is the unofficial beginning of spring and the planting season. Remember that Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, thus it fits nicely into the calendars of planting timing. Every year it is the marking of the rebirth of life on earth. The seeds are planted and soon enough the shoots stick their heads above the ground to announce once more that the food supply will be replenished and life will once more be able to continue.

In short, Easter is hope. Hope for good crops, hope for a good life. As society became more complex hopes included medical care, good lives for children, decent jobs, good education and many more attributes of what we call a ‘good life.’

For many, hopes for such things could be made a reality through getting a good job and working hard. In The United States, following the New Deal years, it would be possible for a person to realize these dreams. That was then, this is now. Since the so-called “Reagan Revolution” in which the wealthy became the recipients of much of the government’s policy changes it has been harder and harder for an individual to advance in society through the dint of hard work. As the ‘Reagan Revolution’ has matured, most of the paths to advancement for a person and their children have been pretty much cut off.

Simply following the news in recent years you should know that the middle class has been hollowed out, wages have been eroded, savings and retirements have been obliterated and advancement just a dream. What is even worse for most of us is that the real hope in our lives – that our children will do better has pretty much been dashed.

First there is the most recent report from the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This report states that without immediate action the earth is destined for some very rough times. This means our children and grand-children will be the bearers of the future calamities.

Second there is the result of the policies of cutting taxes over repairing and maintaining our infrastructure. Roads, bridges, sewers, water filtration, electric grid and other infrastructure built for the common good have been horribly neglected with no plans to do anything to bring these back up to standards. But the most important infrastructure item that is being ignored is our school systems.

Instead of investing money into new programs and facilities and into more training for teachers we have taken the simple way out of relying on testing, testing, testing as our new policies. The downside of this will be citizens who know little but how to take tests.

One other major breakdown is the breakdown of belief in those in authority. Using methods honed in the tobacco wars, right wingers in particular have been able to undermine the underpinnings of our society. Scientists lie, teachers are barely doing their jobs, all politicians are corrupt, elections can’t be trusted. This is just a short list of what used to be very reliable corners of our society which have been trashed so badly that their reliability is in question. All of which points to a break down in our society as a whole.

One of the most reliable paths to a better future – education, especially college – has been priced out of the range of working class people. While other countries give their citizens free education so the whole society can advance, we have gone backwards. This is a policy which will really harm us in the future. All so the rich can have more tax cuts.

And of course there is the incredible gains in wealth by the rich while the poor are suffering from an equally incredibly shrinkage in their wages. We now have a society where nearly all new wealth goes to just a few members of our society and government policies that keep it that way. That sure dashes hopes for our children’s advancements.

So this year in America, reality is replacing hope this year. Most Americans don’t like what they see either. They see a society where only a few count. They see a society which is closing off hope for their children or grandchildren shortly after they are born. They see a society where their friends and neighbors are stuck. What everybody wants is the society that was built under the New Deal, where hope sprang eternal.

This is the election year that more than any will determine what direction this country will take. We can elect those who will rebuild this country, those who are will to make those who have profited greatly through our system pay their share. That would be Democratic candidates.

Or we can elect those who have proudly given our national treasures to the rich and who have frozen our futures, those who have fostered the deterioration of our society. Up and down the ticket, Republicans are little more than toadies to the wealthy.

Pay close attention this year and you will see what I see: our future, our hopes lie with the democratic party.

As President Eisenhower once said:
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”   – DWIGHT D EISENHOWER speech April 16, 1953

Happy Easter, All