It's time we get back to being Americans and live up to our Constitution

Stories like this highlight the vast dividing line between rich and poor.

I've been fortunate to grow up middle class. I've had every opportunity to succeed. My parents were not so lucky. Both came from poor country stock and both carry the attitudes and proclivities of the poor.

Those attitudes impacted me in a significant way--making me sensitive the the plight of the poor and downtrodden. These lessons, more than anything, explain my tendency to support the many over the few--the weak over the strong. Essentially, growing up with middle class resources, but a lower class mindset shaped my political values.

For many decades now, a scary, class-ist, and ultimately aristocratic attitude has governed our society. Hopefully, its final expression in the Bush administration and their mouthpieces in the press (Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Glenn Beck to name a few..) will be nothing more than a death shudder of a narrow and mean view of society.

Policies enacted over decades make it easier to exploit those with little social power. Greed--encouraged by an ideology of self-reliance and a laissez-faire agenda reminiscent of pre-Depression era government and country, has resulted in an exploitative society that is nothing less than predatory.

It's time we own up to meanness. It's time we live united as a people. Too long have self-interest and the narcissism of certain self-satisfaction governed our land.

We should begin by treating the poor as people instead of like peasants to be abused for our own gain.

If we fail, then it won't be too long before our aristocratic tendencies lead to our undoing.

Foreclosure crisis is tied to job stagnation and job loss. Class warfare is at the root of blaming the poor for mortgage mess

I've followed the housing crisis closely. What I've noticed in my hometown is that the hardest hit part of town is also the poorest.

When I look at job loss numbers since 2003, the hardest hit have been the poorest.

From a factual standpoint, job loss is the number one reason for foreclosure.

So what does this tell me?

It tells me that those who blame the foreclosure mess on people who "bought more house than they could afford" may be engaging in class warfare.

This underscores the need for jobs in this country. If people are gainfully employed with good employment prospects and with wages that are not stagnant, then they'll pay their bills.

Most people who lose their house to foreclosure didn't choose foreclosure. Circumstances created the problem. Obviously, some create their own mess, but with the numbers we're seeing, I doubt that so many would willingly or foolishly screw up in such a fashion.

Job creation has stopped in the country because the incentives are to move blue collar jobs offshore. Blue collar jobs are the province of the poor.

Without jobs, people have no money to spend. Without money to spend, people lose things that cost money, like houses and cars. Without money, the economy grinds to a halt.

So explain to me again how the victims of the housing mess are somehow to blame for their plight, while those who created the instruments leading to this mess are off the hook?

You can't. Furthermore, attempts to tie the crisis to one specific group, especially a group with the least amount of control over the situation, strikes me as stupid.

The problem is incredibly complex, but if blame must be placed, let us place it first at the feet of those with the greatest degree of control first. Who would that be? Bankers, Wall Street, and the Government.