Parish
Attacks on the Middle Class
RECEIVED Mon., July 25, 2011
Dear Editor,
During the last few years, I have watched Capital Metro drivers struggle to maintain their place in the middle class and walked some picket lines with them. During the last few years, the University of Texas has been laying off people and reducing the benefits of those who remain. The state goal is to retain or attract prestigious faculty. If this pushes people out of the middle class, it's OK. The Texas Education Agency has laid off a third of its employees. There have been deep cuts at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the state library, and other agencies. The Legislature allows school districts to declare financial exigency and fire teachers and other staff. It is time to acknowledge there is an attack on the middle class – not an overarching conspiracy but many factors reinforcing one another. I know people say, "They won't mess with the middle class too much because we are the economy." Well, there are places that run an economy of a tiny, superrich elite; a small, cowed middle class; and a huge, very poor base. Many of the people who govern us, mired as they are in political battles, seem not to care. The financial elite who we bailed out are openly contemptuous of us. We can support each other. So, beware of efforts to get us to fight each other and manipulative slogans. Walkin' a picket line is pretty good exercise.
During the last few years, I have watched Capital Metro drivers struggle to maintain their place in the middle class and walked some picket lines with them. During the last few years, the University of Texas has been laying off people and reducing the benefits of those who remain. The state goal is to retain or attract prestigious faculty. If this pushes people out of the middle class, it's OK. The Texas Education Agency has laid off a third of its employees. There have been deep cuts at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the state library, and other agencies. The Legislature allows school districts to declare financial exigency and fire teachers and other staff. It is time to acknowledge there is an attack on the middle class – not an overarching conspiracy but many factors reinforcing one another. I know people say, "They won't mess with the middle class too much because we are the economy." Well, there are places that run an economy of a tiny, superrich elite; a small, cowed middle class; and a huge, very poor base. Many of the people who govern us, mired as they are in political battles, seem not to care. The financial elite who we bailed out are openly contemptuous of us. We can support each other. So, beware of efforts to get us to fight each other and manipulative slogans. Walkin' a picket line is pretty good exercise.
Susan Bradley
