It is time for the Americans to fight back.

The Republican agenda is very clear as they have been emboldened by their recent electoral gains. They continue their attack on workers, unions and the middle class. They attack unions because they are the last counterbalance to corporate power in America.

The Forbes 400 (the 400 wealthiest Americans) now have more wealth than the bottom 154 million Americans. Congressional Republicans such as Jim DeMint and Paul Ryan have spearheaded the shift of the tax burden onto middle- and lower-class Americans.

In 1963, the top income tax rate was 91 percent. Now, Warren Buffet says he pays a lower rate than his secretary: less than 15 percent.

In the recent budget deal, Congress gave the Walmart heirs a $36 billion tax break. GE, Exxon, Boeing, the Bank of America, as well as two-thirds of corporations, are paying no income tax.

In the 1960s, corporations paid for 30 percent of government operations; now they fund only 6 percent. Is there any wonder that our governments are short of revenue?

At the same time, corporations are making record profits. They hold trillions of dollars off shore instead of investing in America. They aren’t hiring American workers because they are hiring abroad.

The ultra rich and corporations won’t be satisfied until they have driven our middle class down to the poverty level of Mexico, India and China. Republicans now wish to dismantle our social safety net as they have tried to undo the New Deal for 70 years.

They tell us that we can no longer afford to take care of our poor, the sick and the elderly as they move to cut Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and other programs.

This isn’t the kind of country that most Americans want.

Fight back!

Stephen Reid

DeKalb resident

NIU Alumni class of 1972