Dear Editor:

Kick 'em when they are down seems to be the prevailing ethos of the modern conservative movement when it comes to dealing with unemployment and poverty. And why not? It's easy and costs nothing.

Our national policy of de-industrialization by shipping jobs overseas and rewarding private interests for doing so has resulted in a dearth of good paying manufacturing jobs. This has contributed to the decline of the American middle class and the enlargement of the number of poverty stricken families. Our American Dream is turning sour. Today if you work hard and play by the rules you can still fall on hard times.

But the modern conservative demonstrates a callous disregard to people who fall on hard times. Nor do the they have any new ideas for creating new jobs. Sadly, there is no relief in sight for the wage earner. Politicians like Rep. Hawke and Gov. LePage are busy stacking the deck against hard working Americans and their families.

There is an obvious solution to this. Our nation, in times of economic tribulation, is like a farm in the winter. There is no profitable crop, but there is still plenty of work that we needs to get done. Imagine, if you will, that when an able bodied worker shows up at the unemployment office for help, that worker is offered a job instead.

We have plenty of work that needs to be done; road crews and bridge repairs. Staffing for schools, hospitals and childcare centers. These are things that will make our nation stronger and keep workers at work instead of maintaining able bodied people on the breadline.

But reducing poverty and unemployment requires an empathetic vision, a moral fortitude and a will to  commit resources that the modern conservatives simply lack. So they kick ‘em when they’re down.

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay