Our congressman has lost the American Dream

For more than 400 years people have come to America in search of the American Dream. While this dream included freedom of speech, religion, self-government and equality under the law, its foundation was always economic: they wanted their children and grandchildren to have better lives than they themselves had.

Today’s immigrants want the same thing – decent pay for hard work, healthcare, education and better opportunities than they themselves had. But the American Dream is dying.

Sen. Bernie Sanders just asked, “How can the President and his economic advisors claim that our economy is ‘the envy of the world’ when the United States has the highest rate of childhood poverty, the highest infant mortality rate, the highest overall poverty rate, the largest gap between the rich and the poor and the only country not to have a national health insurance program of any major industrialized nation on Earth?”

When it comes to the economy, the President and his party need a serious reality check. If we keep going in the direction we are headed, our children and grandchildren will have a much lower standard of living than we have.

The American Dream is dying, and our congressman, Darrell Issa, is oblivious. He is about to vote against the Children’s Health Care Insurance Program “because the nation cannot afford it.” He is out of touch with the reality of today’s families and their financial struggle for education and healthcare.

This will be the revelation: will Issa vote for the additional $50 billion war funding bill just demanded by Bush, and will Issa vote against an additional $7 billion for healthcare for our kids?

The $50 billion would be for an additional three months of war; the $7 billion would be for an additional three million kids for one full year of healthcare.

We are waiting to see Issa’s priorities. Has he lost the American Dream?

Joe Howard Crews