"I never thought I would be ashamed of being an American."

Maybe they should ask people in this country to sacrifice that aren't the ones that have the least already. Oh hey, we're in a recession, and damn, people are out of work, and have lost health insurance, and need help...so let's cut food stamps, try to cut funding for medication for AIDS patients like Texas tried to, reduce MediCare and MedicAid benefits...

Instead, I am left a citizen of a country where the wealthy and powerful no longer feel common ground with their less fortunate fellows. Where the idea that the wealthiest nation in the world has a responsibility to assist the less fortunate citizens in it is decried as socialism, and is something to be sacrificed on the altar of reduced taxes, taxes that are already lower than those that existed during our most prosperous times.