Right here in North Carolina, the State where I stand, poverty has left its mark. Some people say that if these Americans are poor, it is their own fault. I have even heard others say that God ordains poverty for the poor. Well, I don't believe them, and I don't believe God believes them either.

                                   -Lyndon B. Johnson, May 7, 1964

There have been times when for many, maybe most of us, personal wealth was not merely a personal end but a means to build a better country.  This is not one of those times. Magnificent things such as eradicating poverty, expanding infrastructure or even exploring outer space are nowhere on the national agenda.  We have become so averse to shared sacrifice, we can't even work for full employment. Instead, we have devolved to a point where the accumulation of personal wealth has become an end in and of itself. In fact, too often it is the only sought-after end. We are becoming a nation of misers.  And this ignoble retrenchment is being aided and abetted by the Religious Right.