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Republicans have been making much of the John Edwards selection for the vice presidency. One of the things they like to point out is that John Edwards' rags-to-riches story deconstructs the "Two Americas" concept that he campaigns on. They argue that if John Edwards was able to pull himself up by his own bootstraps from poverty to a life of wealth and power, anyone should be able to.
But -- and this is the whole point of the progressive movement -- John Edwards was able to make as much of a success of his life as he did because there were public resources available to him to aid him on his way. The same public resources that Republicans since Reagan have been carefully dismantling. John Edwards is where he is because of the New Deal and the Great Society.
He graduated from Public Schools, which have been victims of vicious bloodlettings in every budget cycle since. He worked his way through North Carolina State University. There is no way one could do that now that tuition has skyrocketed out of the range any 20 year old might be able pay with any job he might be able to get. His Law degree, too, came from a public institution.
When John Edwards speaks of "Two Americas" he speaks as someone who has seen them both, and who counts himself fortunate for having lived in a day when there was a bridge between them. What better advocate can we ask for against those who have spent the last few decades blowing up the footings of that bridge?
You can learn more about Edwards at http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_edwards.html
But -- and this is the whole point of the progressive movement -- John Edwards was able to make as much of a success of his life as he did because there were public resources available to him to aid him on his way. The same public resources that Republicans since Reagan have been carefully dismantling. John Edwards is where he is because of the New Deal and the Great Society.
He graduated from Public Schools, which have been victims of vicious bloodlettings in every budget cycle since. He worked his way through North Carolina State University. There is no way one could do that now that tuition has skyrocketed out of the range any 20 year old might be able pay with any job he might be able to get. His Law degree, too, came from a public institution.
When John Edwards speaks of "Two Americas" he speaks as someone who has seen them both, and who counts himself fortunate for having lived in a day when there was a bridge between them. What better advocate can we ask for against those who have spent the last few decades blowing up the footings of that bridge?
You can learn more about Edwards at http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_edwards.html
