Editor’s Note: This op-ed is by Bob Stannard, a Manchester resident and a lobbyist for Citizens Action Network, a group that opposes the relicensure of Vermont Yankee. This commentary first appeared in the Bennington Banner.

There is nothing happening where I am standing. At least that appears to be the case at first glance. I’m straddling my bike atop a sand dune in the Cape Cod National Seashore Park. There is no view. I am surrounded by jack pine, scrub oak and beach grass. As I wait (not for long) for Alison to make it up the previous steep hill, I take a few brief seconds to take it all in.

I realize that I have been flying right by the identical landscape for miles but never bothered to stop to take a real look at it. How any of these plants survive in such arid conditions is nothing short of a miracle. Their harsh environment does not afford them the same opportunities to grow and prosper as their inland kin.

The trees are stunted. The delicate tops of the grass going to seed gently move, or perhaps I should say shimmer, in the puffs of air pretending to be a breeze. Could the gently shimmering indicate a sense of knowing that in no time the circumstances could change, gale force winds arriving making the struggle to survive all the more difficult?

Through sheer grit and tenacity these plants appear to survive. Their inland counterparts seemingly have it made. Their seeds landed in just the right spot, good fertile soil that allowed them to grow big and strong in comfort. These trees tower over those growing on the dunes. You can almost hear the inland trees cheering their good fortune that they come from good stock and have been raised on good land.

We live in fast times. Many people have to work two jobs now to make ends meet. Some are struggling to find good, reasonably priced child care services so they can work those two jobs. This past week we witnessed the most dramatic activity in the stock market in history.

While they’re busy just trying to survive, life is moving on at warp speed. The folks of means are seemingly unaware of how hard life can be: not just for the lower-income people but now for what once was the middle class. People are losing their jobs, their homes, their retirement funds and in some cases their families. For more and more people in America life is getting harder and harder.

That is not the case for a minority of folks in the country. There are still some who are doing exceedingly well. There are those who earned the wealth they have amassed. Then there are those who had to do nothing more than be born into the right family.

Those who worked hard to get ahead arguably have a much greater respect for those who are trying to do the same. Those who simply walked into good fortune may have trouble relating to those less fortunate. They may look down on the low people as more of a burden than an asset, a burden not worthy of assistance.

The world has always had the haves and have nots. That’s nothing new, nor is it new to America. What is new to many is the gap that has been widening between the two.
America once had a strong middle class. It was what separated from most of the other countries of the world. The middle class gained in strength and stature after World War II. For the first time, working families could afford a modest home, a car, a 40-hour work week.

Mom could afford to stay home and raise the kids, one of whom might actually be able to go to college. Some of you might even recall when there was talk of reducing the work week from five days to four. At one time, America’s strong middle class was poised to enjoy some of the benefits of those more well off.

That was then; this is now. It seems like overnight the gains made by working people were wiped out. Those who worked hard at good jobs are now watching their pensions erode. Those who contributed to Social Security over a lifetime watch in disgust as some want to change the rules at the end of the game. Programs put in place to help make life better for the average person are now under attack.

How did things change so dramatically and so rapidly? Greed is probably the best answer. Those who were making a lot of money thanks to a vibrant work force learned that there is no such thing as enough money. We shifted from caring about each other and the nation as a whole to caring only about ourselves.

Just today there appears an article about Brazil and how investors are looking to this country as the next hot deal. As they move about the globe, exploiting as they go, one wonders if there will ever be any thought given to those hanging on like the jack pine and scrub oaks on the dunes of Cape Cod. Will they stop to notice the beauty of the fragile grass blowing in the wind they create?