The Charade Masquerading as Piety

Bill Moyers has an opinion piece that Alternet.org picked up.  I will leave most of the writing to Mr. Moyers, but will add that I continue to remain perplexed by the animosity those born into privilege and good fortune have toward those born into poverty and ill fortune (or who find themselves there despite working hard and trying to get out of poverty).  Here are a couple of memorable quotes:

Why are record numbers of Americans on food stamps? Because record numbers of Americans are in poverty...  It is simply astonishing that in this rich nation more than 21 million Americans are still in need of full-time work, many of them running out of jobless benefits, while our financial class pockets record profits, spends lavishly on campaigns to secure a political order that serves its own interests, and demands that our political class push for further austerity. Meanwhile, roughly 46 million Americans live at or below the poverty line and, with the exception of Romania, no developed country has a higher percent of kids in poverty than we do.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/bill-moyers-we-are-close-losing-our-democracy-mercenary-class?page=0%2C1

 [T]his is the oldest story in America: the struggle to determine whether “we, the people” is a moral compact embedded in a political contract or merely a charade masquerading as piety and manipulated by the powerful and privileged to sustain their own way of life at the expense of others.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/bill-moyers-we-are-close-losing-our-democracy-mercenary-class?page=0%2C3