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Dear Antonio,
The greatest crisis facing our country today is the obscene level of wealth and income economic inequality
we now see. This is a moral issue, an economic issue, and a political issue.
While the very rich get richer, the middle class continues to disappear and we now have more people living
in poverty than ever before. Despite huge increases in technology and productivity, tens of millions of
workers are finding it harder to feed their families, pay for health care, send their kids to college or put aside
savings for retirement.
While large corporations are earning record-breaking profits, real unemployment is close to 14%, and youth unemployment is at 20%. An entire generation of young people is struggling to find a place in the economy
and repay their college loans.
In recent years, with 95% of all new income going to the top 1%, we have seen a huge increase in the number
of millionaires and billionaires. One family, the Walton family of WalMart, now owns more wealth than the
bottom 40% of Americans. Meanwhile, we continue to have, by far, the highest rate of childhood poverty in
the industrialized world.
While the average American is increasingly alienated from the political process, billionaire families like the
Koch brothers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to elect candidates who support their extreme
right-wing views.
During the last week a new and important ally has arisen in the struggle against unfettered capitalism and
wealth and income inequality. In his recently published Exhortation, Pope Francis warns the world against
the idolatry of money and the false promise of trickle-down economics.
Clearly, not everyone shares Francis' religion, and many of us have deep differences with a number of
positions taken by the Catholic Church. Nonetheless, we can all, I think, share his commitment to economic
justice and learn from his wise assessment of how modern civilization, in its relentless pursuit of profit and
its dependence on "the market" to make final valuations of what is good, has lost touch with the ethical
imperatives that should guide our society. I appeal to other religious leaders to focus on matters of economic
justice and to speak out from the context of their own respective traditions.
These are tough times for our country. Let's go forward together. Thanks for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Senator Bernie Sanders
Here are some quotes from the Pope's recent message:
No to an economy of exclusion
Just as the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say "thou shalt not" to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.
Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a "throw away" culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society's underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the "exploited" but the outcast, the "leftovers".
In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people's pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else's responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.
No to the new idolatry of money
One cause of this situation is found in our relationship with money, since we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies. The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (cf. Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.
While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power. To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule.
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