Once again, American poverty and the impact of our anti-poor policies have been overlooked on our list of important issues. We shredded the New Deal policies that did, indeed, greatly succeed at reducing poverty, increasing opportunity, benefiting the nation as a whole. We tore out the social safety net so that when hard times come, people simply crash down to the pavement. We decided that we will aid only the "deserving poor," and concluded that no American who is poor is deserving. We can't even conceive of the idea of compassion for our poor, even as they do die in abandoned buildings and under bridges. We no longer grasp the concept of "common good."

I grant that the links between American poverty, unaffordable health care, unaffordable higher education, the high cost of living, mostly stagnant or falling wages, outsourced jobs etc. are complex issues. One thing that's not complex is that in this intensely competitive society, many simply aren't making it. They need food and shelter first--basic humanitarian aid, a k a welfare--not the contempt that we have shown them for the past quarter-century.

Maybe this year will be different. Maybe we will start to care.

Dianka H. Fabian

Fort Atkinson, WI

It's distubing that Joan Connell thought the best articles were written by men, especially since two of the best reasons for reading The Nation are Katha Pollitt and Barbara Ehrenrich. This pervasive sexism is what keeps me from subscribing to The Nation. Indeed, I noticed that nobody on the staff has reviewed Zillah Eisenstein's brilliant Sexual Decoys: Gender, Race, and War. It's probably because Katrina vanden Heuvel and Joan Connell are progressive versions of gender decoys: women who mask the damage caused by male chauvinism and also contribute to it.

Joanne Callahan

Garland, TX