Shared by Deborah Goonan
Cisneros: Presidential candidates need to talk housing policy, now
Americans feel locked out of the opportunity for self-advancement
September 9, 2015 Henry CisnerosThe 2016 presidential campaign sparked a long overdue national conversation about rising levels of income inequality in our country.
At the heart of this conversation is the testing of a proposition first conveyed to most of us as children – that America is a special place where everyone has the chance to move up the economic ladder by virtue of hard work and talent regardless of our initial station in life. What matters most, we were told, is not where you come from but where you are going.
Of course, our country often falls short of this ideal, most notably with its shameful legacy of slavery and racial segregation.
Yet, throughout its history, America persevered despite these flaws. We engaged in a continuing exercise of self-improvement in which people of goodwill come together to correct injustices and build a fairer society. While not perfect, the New Deal of the 1930s and the Great Society programs of the 1960s were aimed at widening the doors of opportunity for all Americans regardless of background.
Today, it seems we have reached another point in our history when some introspection and self-improvement are in order.
Preview… read more here