Tom Harkin: “I have often said there is nothing wrong with being rich in America. There is nothing wrong with having a nicer home and…”

“I have often said there is nothing wrong with being rich in America. There is nothing wrong with having a nicer home and a nicer car, or a nicer lifestyle, as long as you have done it honestly and forthrightly. And most wealthy people have done it that way. There is nothing wrong with that. But I think the obligation that we have in government is to make sure we leave the ladder down for others to climb. What the Bush administration seems to be saying is: You have a lot of money, you have made all this money, and you can pull the ladder up behind you. And guess what. We are going to help you pull the ladder up behind you. That is not my idea of what America is about. America is about fairness and equity and giving the kids from Searchlight, NV, or Cumming, IA, that same opportunity to get a great education, to be healthy, to have a piece of that American dream, and to have that opportunity. But the more we concentrate wealth in the hands of a few people and then use the Government to ensure that they not only keep it to get wealthy, the more we are taking that American dream from those kids in Searchlight, NV, and Cumming, IA.”