There’s no question that these are some of the most challenging and troubling times since the Great Depression and WW2. It’s my belief that, over the years our political system has been high-jacked by big money and special interest, something that some very wise people saw coming a long time ago. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us back in the 50’s about the threat by some of the largest industries of that time, the military industrial complex. He warned us that our large corporations would infiltrate our government through their lobbyists and influence all political decisions in our country. I believe that Ike was right and, we the people did not heed his warning which has led us to the mess we’re in. At the moment there are signs that the society and the standard of living you and I have enjoyed is in the process of being dismantled. Just look at your own situation, look around your own neighborhood and compare what you see with what you experienced when you were a kid. Has your quality of life improved? Have conditions in your neighborhood or city/town improved? Do you feel safe and secure economically? Do you believe that your kids will have the same opportunities you and your parents had? If the answer to these questions is NO, then you agree with me that we’re in decline. The real challenge and where it may be difficult for us to agree is on the course of action that needs to be taken to put us back on course.(If that’s our goal) I believe that the last time the citizens of this country were as politically divided as they are today was during the Vietnam War, but unlike the 60’s, hardly anybody has taken to the streets.(yet) It’s a very different story in Europe where street demonstrations have become daily events. Of course the main issue both here and abroad is the economy and the plight of the working poor and the dismantling of the middle class. The size of the middle class and their salaries raised the standard of living in this country as nowhere else in the world. If I had to point to a single event that triggered this decline I’d say it was when Ronald Reagan fired the Air Controllers and the pilots crossed the picket lines. To me that was the beginning of the end of a country where the majority of its citizens belonged to the middle class. Working class wages have remained flat for over 30 years while the cost of goods and services has increased dramatically. Our paychecks are buying less and less as the cost of some necessities of life such as food, healthcare and energy have doubled, tripled and even quadrupled over this same 30 year period. Because these changes were spread over time the effects were subtle and, the ordinary citizen didn’t pay much attention to the consequences. Our grocery bills increased a couple bucks a month, our fuel oil bills increased a couple hundred dollars a year, gas went up a few pennies now and then and soon we needed a second paycheck to maintain our standard of living. Gone were the days when women could stay at home and raise the kids and we could have a boat, a snowmobile and a camp on a pond or lake. Recently I’ve had more than one person tell me that they’re prepaying their heating fuel for next winter and that it will cost them $1,000.00 more than last year. Some of our residents will have to come up with $3K to $5K for the heating season, how some people will mange remains to be seen. Retired folks have a double whammer, these rising costs all while their retirement plans such as 401K keep losing value each time the stock market takes a dive. We may be the first generation whose standard of living will be lower than our parents and our grandparents and how we deal with that reality also remains to be seen. Here in New Hampshire, the infinite wisdom of newly elected republicans/tea baggers, voted to repeal the minimum wage law saying it was “killing jobs”. What jobs? Certainly not those sent to China by our own corporations. Removing the minimum wage law will just further facilitate the dismantling of the middle class and the standard of living that three generations worked so hard to build. Maybe we should just call this the age of reckless ignorance as most of us join the ranks of the working poor in a developing two class society.