Hello all!   
      
   David Brooks, the right's most hated conservative, wrote in the New YOrk Times   
   large type weekly (also produced in braille) for July 16-22 an opinion piece   
   entitled "THe children's opportunity gap."   
      
   HE writes:   
      
   "Decades ago, college-graduate parents and high school-graduate parents   
   invested similarly in their children.  Recently, more affluent parents have   
   invested  much more time and money in their childrens' futures while less   
   affluent parents have not."   
   HE goes on to site facts and figures, and continues:   
      
   "As a result, behavior gaps are opening up.  In 1972 kids from the bottom   
   quartile of earners participated in roughly the same number of activities as   
   the kids from the top quartile.    Today, it's a chasm."   
      
   YOu can probably find this piece on the web, but it's his   
   statements toward the end that I wholeheartedly endorse.  HE says:   
      
   "IF America really wants to take advantage of all its human capital rather   
   than just the most privileged two-thirds of it, then people are going to have   
   to make some uncomfortable decisions.    
      
   "LIberals are going to have to be willing to champion norms that say marriage   
   should come before child rearing and be morally tough about it.   
      
   "Conservatives are going to have to be willing to accept tax increases or   
   benefit cuts so that more can be spent on the earned- income tax credit and   
   other programs that benefit the working class."   
      
   "Political candidates will have to spend less time trying to exploit class   
   divisions and more time trying to remedy them--less time calling their   
   opponents out of touch elitists, and more time coming up with agendas that   
   comprehensively address the problem."   
      
      
   IF you're a politician and you really want my vote, what I   
   want to hear from you is about how you're going to provide a future for our   
   young people, and your plan to bolster our   
   aging infrastructure, otherwise, except the one finger   
   salute as I vote libertarian.  iF you're not going to fix   
   it, then every man for himself is the best we can hope to   
   get.   
   A United states governed by wing nuts and/or whiners doesn't deserve to   
   survive, it's that simple!  We've had enough hand wringing and finger   
   pointing, it's time to get America back   
   to work!   
      
      
   Regards,   
              Richard   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:116/901)