To the editor:

Almost every morning I find in this space another letter expressing outrage about President Bush. Without comment on the merits, I note that the man is a lame duck and unimpeachable given his party’s majorities. More importantly, I believe there to be serious unexplored issues.

Each passing year exposes data that show that more of the nation’s wealth is concentrated in fewer hands. Income for the middle class has been stagnant for a decade while the top few percent see double digit increases. Our tax levies extract a nearly proportional toll from the middle class and the super rich. The concept of personal responsibility justifies cuts in aid to the less fortunate, ignoring our broader responsibility to others. Longstanding middle-class programs are labeled unsustainable while we squander the monies already collected to fund them. Higher-income, skilled work moves offshore while we laud millions of new low-paying service jobs. We import cheap labor rather than pay our own unemployed citizens a living wage.

Where is the outrage at these trends? Should we not be challenging all our leaders to reverse them? Are we so distracted by bashing Mr. Bush that we are blind to the accelerating erosion of the middle class? Let’s hear some outrage!

George Lippencott,

Lawrence