Elizabeth Edwards: Announcing The One America Bookcast

[paineinthearse]

Received by email.

Dear Friend,

I want to thank you for your all of your thoughts and prayers since I was diagnosed with breast cancer last November. I have gained so much strength from all of your good wishes, and I am pleased to report that my health is steadily improving. A few weeks ago, I completed all of my treatment, and I have more energy and feel better every day. My doctors are very optimistic and they expect me to have a strong recovery.

During this process John and I constantly talked about how hard it would be to face what we faced without having access to health care or without our basic needs being met. Unfortunately, many working Americans are still struggling to make ends meet; the disparity between the two Americas is as great as ever. So I would like to let you know about some of the things that John has been up to lately. To shine a spotlight on the working poor, John has traveled the country these past few weeks and talked with working men and women who live in poverty every day. Their stories are troublingly similar: they work as many hours as they can, sometimes holding down more than one job, but they barely scrape by each month. If one member of the family falls ill, they have to choose between paying for treatment and paying for food. That's not a choice any working family should ever have to make.

Thankfully, there are talented, tireless individuals - like Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Shipler - who are dedicated to uniting our two Americas. In his book "The Working Poor," David writes: "No one who works hard should be poor in America." John and I couldn't agree more.

David spoke with working men and women across the country to discover how they live, why they are poor, and how we can do better by them. Not only does David vividly portray their plight - he deftly assesses the personal and societal shortcomings behind it. David shows how poverty acts like an ecological system: rising rents, low wages, bad credit, and malnutrition are not isolated factors, but rather they interact and exacerbate each other, creating a vicious cycle. This leads to insurmountable debt and, worse, it crushes hope. Working Americans should not have to struggle to survive, and until we change our policies and our leadership, we will see our two Americas drifting dangerously farther apart.

John and I think "The Working Poor" is a very accurate and compelling portrayal of the poverty we've seen firsthand, and we want as many people as possible to read this book. We are eager to hear what you think about it so please visit our site and post comments in our new Book Forum. This week David will join the Forum to respond to your comments, so be sure to check for that. Through the Forum you can also download our very first bookcast, in which John, David, and I discuss "The Working Poor" and field your questions. We urge you to read this book and offer your insights. To eradicate working class poverty, we must understand how and why people are struggling.

Thank you for your continued commitment to One America, and take care.

- Elizabeth Edwards

PS: If you haven't already, please sign up for our regular podcasts. Last month's podcast is available through the Web site, and it's not too late to submit questions that you'd like answered in the next one.

ONE AMERICA BOOKCAST - listen - http://www.oneamericacommittee.com/bookcast/bookcast_001.mp3

Just Released! Visit the new Book Forum http://ga3.org/ct/u7SasUS1VmeX/ and listen to the first One America Bookcast featuring John and Elizabeth Edwards. In this bookcast, David Shipler joins John and Elizabeth to discuss his book "The Working Poor: Invisible In America."


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More and more people are tuning in to the One America Podcast.

Tell your friends about John and Elizabeth Edwards' third podcast: spread the word. http://ga3.org/ct/upSasUS1Vme4/


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Sign up to receive updates from One America Committee. http://ga3.org/join/join.html?r=BdSasUS1bzsEE&

[paineinthearse]

1. Wow, this sure sank like a stone! nt

[Cleita]

2. What a nice letter.

Thanks Elizabeth. I'm glad you are pulling through this health problem and that you and John are researching the health care problems we have in America of everyone having access to it.

[Lisa]

3. wow, this is like night and day ...

How refreshing to see policymakers who care and not only have a clue, but are willing to learn more so they can try to fix things.

Remember that incident when Bush was talking to a woman, and thought it was a GOOD thing that she had to work 3 jobs and look after her kids at the same time, just to get by?

[goclark]

4. Elizabeth is one classy lady - get well quick!! nt